Two Step Random Access in Non-Terrestrial Networks

ABSTRACT

A wireless device selects, in response to initiating a random access procedure, a first radio resource for transmitting a message. In response to determining the first radio resource is invalid for transmission of the message, the wireless device transmits, via a second radio resource, the message based on determining the second radio resource is valid for the transmission of the message and determining a time difference between the second radio resource and the first radio resource is smaller than a threshold.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/229,639, filed Aug. 5, 2021, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Examples of several of the various embodiments of the present disclosure are described herein with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B illustrate example mobile communication networks in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented.

FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B respectively illustrate a New Radio (NR) user plane and control plane protocol stack.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of services provided between protocol layers of the NR user plane protocol stack of FIG. 2A.

FIG. 4A illustrates an example downlink data flow through the NR user plane protocol stack of FIG. 2A.

FIG. 4B illustrates an example format of a MAC subheader in a MAC PDU.

FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B respectively illustrate a mapping between logical channels, transport channels, and physical channels for the downlink and uplink.

FIG. 6 is an example diagram showing RRC state transitions of a UE.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example configuration of an NR frame into which OFDM symbols are grouped.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example configuration of a slot in the time and frequency domain for an NR carrier.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of bandwidth adaptation using three configured BWPs for an NR carrier.

FIG. 10A illustrates three carrier aggregation configurations with two component carriers.

FIG. 10B illustrates an example of how aggregated cells may be configured into one or more PUCCH groups.

FIG. 11A illustrates an example of an SS/PBCH block structure and location.

FIG. 11B illustrates an example of CSI-RSs that are mapped in the time and frequency domains.

FIG. 12A and FIG. 12B respectively illustrate examples of three downlink and uplink beam management procedures.

FIG. 13A, FIG. 13B, and FIG. 13C respectively illustrate a four-step contention-based random access procedure, a two-step contention-free random access procedure, and another two-step random access procedure.

FIG. 14A illustrates an example of CORESET configurations for a bandwidth part.

FIG. 14B illustrates an example of a CCE-to-REG mapping for DCI transmission on a CORESET and PDCCH processing.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example of a wireless device in communication with a base station.

FIG. 16A, FIG. 16B, FIG. 16C, and FIG. 16D illustrate example structures for uplink and downlink transmission.

FIG. 17A shows several examples of the mapping between PRACH configuration period and SS/PBCH block to PRACH occasion association period.

FIG. 17B shows values of N_gap for several PRACH numerologies.

FIG. 17C shows examples of time gap between the PRACH occasion/resource and a uplink occasion/resource.

FIG. 18A, FIG. 18B, and FIG. 18C shows several examples of MsgA PUSCH occasions.

FIG. 19 shows an example flow diagram of an RA procedure with multiple uplink carriers and multiple RA types configured.

FIG. 20 shows an example flowchart of resource selection procedure specific to a 2-step RA procedure.

FIG. 21 is an example figure of different types of NTN platforms/nodes.

FIG. 22 shown an example of an NTN with a transparent NTN platform/node.

FIG. 23 shows examples of propagation delay corresponding to NTNs of different altitudes.

FIG. 24 is an example diagram illustrating a 2-step RA procedure performed between a wireless device and a base station.

FIG. 25 provides an example of a 2-step RA procedure performed between a wireless device and an NTN base station.

FIG. 26 shows an example embodiment of a 2-step RA procedure performed between a wireless device and an NTN base station.

FIG. 27 shows an example embodiment of a 2-step RA procedure performed between a wireless device and an NTN base station.

FIG. 28 shows an example embodiment of a 2-step RA procedure performed between a wireless device and an NTN base station.

FIG. 29 shows an example embodiment of a 2-step RA procedure performed between a wireless device and an NTN base station.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the present disclosure, various embodiments are presented as examples of how the disclosed techniques may be implemented and/or how the disclosed techniques may be practiced in environments and scenarios. It will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art that various changes in form and detail can be made therein without departing from the scope. In fact, after reading the description, it will be apparent to one skilled in the relevant art how to implement alternative embodiments. The present embodiments should not be limited by any of the described exemplary embodiments. The embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Limitations, features, and/or elements from the disclosed example embodiments may be combined to create further embodiments within the scope of the disclosure. Any figures which highlight the functionality and advantages, are presented for example purposes only. The disclosed architecture is sufficiently flexible and configurable, such that it may be utilized in ways other than that shown. For example, the actions listed in any flowchart may be re-ordered or only optionally used in some embodiments.

Embodiments may be configured to operate as needed. The disclosed mechanism may be performed when certain criteria are met, for example, in a wireless device, a base station, a radio environment, a network, a combination of the above, and/or the like. Example criteria may be based, at least in part, on for example, wireless device or network node configurations, traffic load, initial system set up, packet sizes, traffic characteristics, a combination of the above, and/or the like. When the one or more criteria are met, various example embodiments may be applied. Therefore, it may be possible to implement example embodiments that selectively implement disclosed protocols.

A base station may communicate with a mix of wireless devices. Wireless devices and/or base stations may support multiple technologies, and/or multiple releases of the same technology. Wireless devices may have some specific capability(ies) depending on wireless device category and/or capability(ies). When this disclosure refers to a base station communicating with a plurality of wireless devices, this disclosure may refer to a subset of the total wireless devices in a coverage area. This disclosure may refer to, for example, a plurality of wireless devices of a given LTE or 5G release with a given capability and in a given sector of the base station. The plurality of wireless devices in this disclosure may refer to a selected plurality of wireless devices, and/or a subset of total wireless devices in a coverage area which perform according to disclosed methods, and/or the like. There may be a plurality of base stations or a plurality of wireless devices in a coverage area that may not comply with the disclosed methods, for example, those wireless devices or base stations may perform based on older releases of LTE or 5G technology.

In this disclosure, “a” and “an” and similar phrases are to be interpreted as “at least one” and “one or more.” Similarly, any term that ends with the suffix “(s)” is to be interpreted as “at least one” and “one or more.” In this disclosure, the term “may” is to be interpreted as “may, for example.” In other words, the term “may” is indicative that the phrase following the term “may” is an example of one of a multitude of suitable possibilities that may, or may not, be employed by one or more of the various embodiments. The terms “comprises” and “consists of”, as used herein, enumerate one or more components of the element being described. The term “comprises” is interchangeable with “includes” and does not exclude unenumerated components from being included in the element being described. By contrast, “consists of” provides a complete enumeration of the one or more components of the element being described. The term “based on”, as used herein, should be interpreted as “based at least in part on” rather than, for example, “based solely on”. The term “and/or” as used herein represents any possible combination of enumerated elements. For example, “A, B, and/or C” may represent A; B; C; A and B; A and C; B and C; or A, B, and C.

If A and B are sets and every element of A is an element of B, A is called a subset of B. In this specification, only non-empty sets and subsets are considered. For example, possible subsets of B={cell1, cell2} are: {cell1}, {cell2}, and {cell1, cell2}. The phrase “based on” (or equally “based at least on”) is indicative that the phrase following the term “based on” is an example of one of a multitude of suitable possibilities that may, or may not, be employed to one or more of the various embodiments. The phrase “in response to” (or equally “in response at least to”) is indicative that the phrase following the phrase “in response to” is an example of one of a multitude of suitable possibilities that may, or may not, be employed to one or more of the various embodiments. The phrase “depending on” (or equally “depending at least to”) is indicative that the phrase following the phrase “depending on” is an example of one of a multitude of suitable possibilities that may, or may not, be employed to one or more of the various embodiments. The phrase “employing/using” (or equally “employing/using at least”) is indicative that the phrase following the phrase “employing/using” is an example of one of a multitude of suitable possibilities that may, or may not, be employed to one or more of the various embodiments.

The term configured may relate to the capacity of a device whether the device is in an operational or non-operational state. Configured may refer to specific settings in a device that effect the operational characteristics of the device whether the device is in an operational or non-operational state. In other words, the hardware, software, firmware, registers, memory values, and/or the like may be “configured” within a device, whether the device is in an operational or nonoperational state, to provide the device with specific characteristics. Terms such as “a control message to cause in a device” may mean that a control message has parameters that may be used to configure specific characteristics or may be used to implement certain actions in the device, whether the device is in an operational or non-operational state.

In this disclosure, parameters (or equally called, fields, or Information elements: IEs) may comprise one or more information objects, and an information object may comprise one or more other objects. For example, if parameter (IE) N comprises parameter (IE) M, and parameter (IE) M comprises parameter (IE) K, and parameter (IE) K comprises parameter (information element) J. Then, for example, N comprises K, and N comprises J. In an example embodiment, when one or more messages comprise a plurality of parameters, it implies that a parameter in the plurality of parameters is in at least one of the one or more messages, but does not have to be in each of the one or more messages.

Many features presented are described as being optional through the use of “may” or the use of parentheses. For the sake of brevity and legibility, the present disclosure does not explicitly recite each and every permutation that may be obtained by choosing from the set of optional features. The present disclosure is to be interpreted as explicitly disclosing all such permutations. For example, a system described as having three optional features may be embodied in seven ways, namely with just one of the three possible features, with any two of the three possible features or with three of the three possible features.

Many of the elements described in the disclosed embodiments may be implemented as modules. A module is defined here as an element that performs a defined function and has a defined interface to other elements. The modules described in this disclosure may be implemented in hardware, software in combination with hardware, firmware, wetware (e.g. hardware with a biological element) or a combination thereof, which may be behaviorally equivalent. For example, modules may be implemented as a software routine written in a computer language configured to be executed by a hardware machine (such as C, C++, Fortran, Java, Basic, Matlab or the like) or a modeling/simulation program such as Simulink, Stateflow, GNU Octave, or Lab VIEWMathScript. It may be possible to implement modules using physical hardware that incorporates discrete or programmable analog, digital and/or quantum hardware. Examples of programmable hardware comprise: computers, microcontrollers, microprocessors, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs); field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs); and complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs). Computers, microcontrollers and microprocessors are programmed using languages such as assembly, C, C++ or the like. FPGAs, ASICs and CPLDs are often programmed using hardware description languages (HDL) such as VHSIC hardware description language (VHDL) or Verilog that configure connections between internal hardware modules with lesser functionality on a programmable device. The mentioned technologies are often used in combination to achieve the result of a functional module.

1. Network Architecture

FIG. 1A illustrates an example of a mobile communication network 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. The mobile communication network 100 may be, for example, a public land mobile network (PLMN) run by a network operator. As illustrated in FIG. 1A, the mobile communication network 100 includes a core network (CN) 102, a radio access network (RAN) 104, and a wireless device 106.

The CN 102 may provide the wireless device 106 with an interface to one or more data networks (DNs), such as public DNs (e.g., the Internet), private DNs, and/or intra-operator DNs. As part of the interface functionality, the CN 102 may set up end-to-end connections between the wireless device 106 and the one or more DNs, authenticate the wireless device 106, and provide charging functionality.

The RAN 104 may connect the CN 102 to the wireless device 106 through radio communications over an air interface. As part of the radio communications, the RAN 104 may provide scheduling, radio resource management, and retransmission protocols. The communication direction from the RAN 104 to the wireless device 106 over the air interface is known as the downlink and the communication direction from the wireless device 106 to the RAN 104 over the air interface is known as the uplink. Downlink transmissions may be separated from uplink transmissions using frequency division duplexing (FDD), time-division duplexing (TDD), and/or some combination of the two duplexing techniques.

The term wireless device may be used throughout this disclosure to refer to and encompass any mobile device or fixed (non-mobile) device for which wireless communication is needed or usable. For example, a wireless device may be a telephone, smart phone, tablet, computer, laptop, sensor, meter, wearable device, Internet of Things (IoT) device, vehicle road side unit (RSU), relay node, automobile, and/or any combination thereof. The term wireless device encompasses other terminology, including user equipment (UE), user terminal (UT), access terminal (AT), mobile station, handset, wireless transmit and receive unit (WTRU), and/or wireless communication device.

The RAN 104 may include one or more base stations (not shown). The term base station may be used throughout this disclosure to refer to and encompass a Node B (associated with UMTS and/or 3G standards), an Evolved Node B (eNB, associated with E-UTRA and/or 4G standards), a remote radio head (RRH), a baseband processing unit coupled to one or more RRHs, a repeater node or relay node used to extend the coverage area of a donor node, a Next Generation Evolved Node B (ng-eNB), a Generation Node B (gNB, associated with NR and/or 5G standards), an access point (AP, associated with, for example, WiFi or any other suitable wireless communication standard), and/or any combination thereof. A base station may comprise at least one gNB Central Unit (gNB-CU) and at least one a gNB Distributed Unit (gNB-DU).

A base station included in the RAN 104 may include one or more sets of antennas for communicating with the wireless device 106 over the air interface. For example, one or more of the base stations may include three sets of antennas to respectively control three cells (or sectors). The size of a cell may be determined by a range at which a receiver (e.g., a base station receiver) can successfully receive the transmissions from a transmitter (e.g., a wireless device transmitter) operating in the cell. Together, the cells of the base stations may provide radio coverage to the wireless device 106 over a wide geographic area to support wireless device mobility.

In addition to three-sector sites, other implementations of base stations are possible. For example, one or more of the base stations in the RAN 104 may be implemented as a sectored site with more or less than three sectors. One or more of the base stations in the RAN 104 may be implemented as an access point, as a baseband processing unit coupled to several remote radio heads (RRHs), and/or as a repeater or relay node used to extend the coverage area of a donor node. A baseband processing unit coupled to RRHs may be part of a centralized or cloud RAN architecture, where the baseband processing unit may be either centralized in a pool of baseband processing units or virtualized. A repeater node may amplify and rebroadcast a radio signal received from a donor node. A relay node may perform the same/similar functions as a repeater node but may decode the radio signal received from the donor node to remove noise before amplifying and rebroadcasting the radio signal.

The RAN 104 may be deployed as a homogenous network of macrocell base stations that have similar antenna patterns and similar high-level transmit powers. The RAN 104 may be deployed as a heterogeneous network. In heterogeneous networks, small cell base stations may be used to provide small coverage areas, for example, coverage areas that overlap with the comparatively larger coverage areas provided by macrocell base stations. The small coverage areas may be provided in areas with high data traffic (or so-called “hotspots”) or in areas with weak macrocell coverage. Examples of small cell base stations include, in order of decreasing coverage area, microcell base stations, picocell base stations, and femtocell base stations or home base stations.

The Third-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) was formed in 1998 to provide global standardization of specifications for mobile communication networks similar to the mobile communication network 100 in FIG. 1A. To date, 3GPP has produced specifications for three generations of mobile networks: a third generation (3G) network known as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), a fourth generation (4G) network known as Long-Term Evolution (LTE), and a fifth generation (5G) network known as 5G System (5GS). Embodiments of the present disclosure are described with reference to the RAN of a 3GPP 5G network, referred to as next-generation RAN (NG-RAN). Embodiments may be applicable to RANs of other mobile communication networks, such as the RAN 104 in FIG. 1A, the RANs of earlier 3G and 4G networks, and those of future networks yet to be specified (e.g., a 3GPP 6G network). NG-RAN implements 5G radio access technology known as New Radio (NR) and may be provisioned to implement 4G radio access technology or other radio access technologies, including non-3GPP radio access technologies.

FIG. 1B illustrates another example mobile communication network 150 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. Mobile communication network 150 may be, for example, a PLMN run by a network operator. As illustrated in FIG. 1B, mobile communication network 150 includes a 5G core network (5G-CN) 152, an NG-RAN 154, and UEs 156A and 156B (collectively UEs 156). These components may be implemented and operate in the same or similar manner as corresponding components described with respect to FIG. 1A.

The 5G-CN 152 provides the UEs 156 with an interface to one or more DNs, such as public DNs (e.g., the Internet), private DNs, and/or intra-operator DNs. As part of the interface functionality, the 5G-CN 152 may set up end-to-end connections between the UEs 156 and the one or more DNs, authenticate the UEs 156, and provide charging functionality. Compared to the CN of a 3GPP 4G network, the basis of the 5G-CN 152 may be a service-based architecture. This means that the architecture of the nodes making up the 5G-CN 152 may be defined as network functions that offer services via interfaces to other network functions. The network functions of the 5G-CN 152 may be implemented in several ways, including as network elements on dedicated or shared hardware, as software instances running on dedicated or shared hardware, or as virtualized functions instantiated on a platform (e.g., a cloud-based platform).

As illustrated in FIG. 1B, the 5G-CN 152 includes an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 158A and a User Plane Function (UPF) 158B, which are shown as one component AMF/UPF 158 in FIG. 1B for ease of illustration. The UPF 158B may serve as a gateway between the NG-RAN 154 and the one or more DNs. The UPF 158B may perform functions such as packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection and user plane policy rule enforcement, traffic usage reporting, uplink classification to support routing of traffic flows to the one or more DNs, quality of service (QoS) handling for the user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, uplink/downlink rate enforcement, and uplink traffic verification), downlink packet buffering, and downlink data notification triggering. The UPF 158B may serve as an anchor point for intra-/inter-Radio Access Technology (RAT) mobility, an external protocol (or packet) data unit (PDU) session point of interconnect to the one or more DNs, and/or a branching point to support a multi-homed PDU session. The UEs 156 may be configured to receive services through a PDU session, which is a logical connection between a UE and a DN.

The AMF 158A may perform functions such as Non-Access Stratum (NAS) signaling termination, NAS signaling security, Access Stratum (AS) security control, inter-CN node signaling for mobility between 3GPP access networks, idle mode UE reachability (e.g., control and execution of paging retransmission), registration area management, intra-system and inter-system mobility support, access authentication, access authorization including checking of roaming rights, mobility management control (subscription and policies), network slicing support, and/or session management function (SMF) selection. NAS may refer to the functionality operating between a CN and a UE, and AS may refer to the functionality operating between the UE and a RAN.

The 5G-CN 152 may include one or more additional network functions that are not shown in FIG. 1B for the sake of clarity. For example, the 5G-CN 152 may include one or more of a Session Management Function (SMF), an NR Repository Function (NRF), a Policy Control Function (PCF), a Network Exposure Function (NEF), a Unified Data Management (UDM), an Application Function (AF), and/or an Authentication Server Function (AUSF).

The NG-RAN 154 may connect the 5G-CN 152 to the UEs 156 through radio communications over the air interface. The NG-RAN 154 may include one or more gNBs, illustrated as gNB 160A and gNB 160B (collectively gNBs 160) and/or one or more ng-eNBs, illustrated as ng-eNB 162A and ng-eNB 162B (collectively ng-eNBs 162). The gNBs 160 and ng-eNBs 162 may be more generically referred to as base stations. The gNBs 160 and ng-eNBs 162 may include one or more sets of antennas for communicating with the UEs 156 over an air interface. For example, one or more of the gNBs 160 and/or one or more of the ng-eNB s 162 may include three sets of antennas to respectively control three cells (or sectors). Together, the cells of the gNBs 160 and the ng-eNBs 162 may provide radio coverage to the UEs 156 over a wide geographic area to support UE mobility.

As shown in FIG. 1B, the gNBs 160 and/or the ng-eNBs 162 may be connected to the 5G-CN 152 by means of an NG interface and to other base stations by an Xn interface. The NG and Xn interfaces may be established using direct physical connections and/or indirect connections over an underlying transport network, such as an internet protocol (IP) transport network. The gNBs 160 and/or the ng-eNBs 162 may be connected to the UEs 156 by means of a Uu interface. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 1B, gNB 160A may be connected to the UE 156A by means of a Uu interface. The NG, Xn, and Uu interfaces are associated with a protocol stack. The protocol stacks associated with the interfaces may be used by the network elements in FIG. 1B to exchange data and signaling messages and may include two planes: a user plane and a control plane. The user plane may handle data of interest to a user. The control plane may handle signaling messages of interest to the network elements.

The gNBs 160 and/or the ng-eNBs 162 may be connected to one or more AMF/UPF functions of the 5G-CN 152, such as the AMF/UPF 158, by means of one or more NG interfaces. For example, the gNB 160A may be connected to the UPF 158B of the AMF/UPF 158 by means of an NG-User plane (NG-U) interface. The NG-U interface may provide delivery (e.g., non-guaranteed delivery) of user plane PDUs between the gNB 160A and the UPF 158B. The gNB 160A may be connected to the AMF 158A by means of an NG-Control plane (NG-C) interface. The NG-C interface may provide, for example, NG interface management, UE context management, UE mobility management, transport of NAS messages, paging, PDU session management, and configuration transfer and/or warning message transmission.

The gNBs 160 may provide NR user plane and control plane protocol terminations towards the UEs 156 over the Uu interface. For example, the gNB 160A may provide NR user plane and control plane protocol terminations toward the UE 156A over a Uu interface associated with a first protocol stack. The ng-eNBs 162 may provide Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) user plane and control plane protocol terminations towards the UEs 156 over a Uu interface, where E-UTRA refers to the 3GPP 4G radio-access technology. For example, the ng-eNB 162B may provide E-UTRA user plane and control plane protocol terminations towards the UE 156B over a Uu interface associated with a second protocol stack.

The 5G-CN 152 was described as being configured to handle NR and 4G radio accesses. It will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that it may be possible for NR to connect to a 4G core network in a mode known as “non-standalone operation.” In non-standalone operation, a 4G core network is used to provide (or at least support) control-plane functionality (e.g., initial access, mobility, and paging). Although only one AMF/UPF 158 is shown in FIG. 1B, one gNB or ng-eNB may be connected to multiple AMF/UPF nodes to provide redundancy and/or to load share across the multiple AMF/UPF nodes.

2. Radio Protocol Architecture

As discussed, an interface (e.g., Uu, Xn, and NG interfaces) between the network elements in FIG. 1B may be associated with a protocol stack that the network elements use to exchange data and signaling messages. A protocol stack may include two planes: a user plane and a control plane. The user plane may handle data of interest to a user, and the control plane may handle signaling messages of interest to the network elements.

FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B respectively illustrate examples of NR user plane and NR control plane protocol stacks for the Uu interface that lies between a UE 210 and a gNB 220. The protocol stacks illustrated in FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B may be the same or similar to those used for the Uu interface between, for example, the UE 156A and the gNB 160A shown in FIG. 1B.

2.1 User Plane Protocol Stack

FIG. 2A illustrates a NR user plane protocol stack comprising five layers implemented in the UE 210 and the gNB 220. At the bottom of the protocol stack, physical layers (PHYs) 211 and 221 may provide transport services to the higher layers of the protocol stack and may correspond to layer 1 of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model. The next four protocols above PHYs 211 and 221 comprise media access control layers (MACs) 212 and 222, radio link control layers (RLCs) 213 and 223, packet data convergence protocol layers (PDCPs) 214 and 224, and service data application protocol layers (SDAPs) 215 and 225. Together, these four protocols may make up layer 2, or the data link layer, of the OSI model.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of services provided between protocol layers of the NR user plane protocol stack. Starting from the top of FIG. 2A and FIG. 3 , the SDAPs 215 and 225 may perform QoS flow handling. The UE 210 may receive services through a PDU session, which may be a logical connection between the UE 210 and a DN. The PDU session may have one or more QoS flows. A UPF of a CN (e.g., the UPF 158B) may map IP packets to the one or more QoS flows of the PDU session based on QoS requirements (e.g., in terms of delay, data rate, and/or error rate). The SDAPs 215 and 225 may perform mapping/de-mapping between the one or more QoS flows and one or more data radio bearers. The mapping/de-mapping between the QoS flows and the data radio bearers may be determined by the SDAP 225 at the gNB 220. The SDAP 215 at the UE 210 may be informed of the mapping between the QoS flows and the data radio bearers through reflective mapping or control signaling received from the gNB 220. For reflective mapping, the SDAP 225 at the gNB 220 may mark the downlink packets with a QoS flow indicator (QFI), which may be observed by the SDAP 215 at the UE 210 to determine the mapping/de-mapping between the QoS flows and the data radio bearers.

The PDCPs 214 and 224 may perform header compression/decompression to reduce the amount of data that needs to be transmitted over the air interface, ciphering/deciphering to prevent unauthorized decoding of data transmitted over the air interface, and integrity protection (to ensure control messages originate from intended sources. The PDCPs 214 and 224 may perform retransmissions of undelivered packets, in-sequence delivery and reordering of packets, and removal of packets received in duplicate due to, for example, an intra-gNB handover. The PDCPs 214 and 224 may perform packet duplication to improve the likelihood of the packet being received and, at the receiver, remove any duplicate packets. Packet duplication may be useful for services that require high reliability.

Although not shown in FIG. 3 , PDCPs 214 and 224 may perform mapping/de-mapping between a split radio bearer and RLC channels in a dual connectivity scenario. Dual connectivity is a technique that allows a UE to connect to two cells or, more generally, two cell groups: a master cell group (MCG) and a secondary cell group (SCG). A split bearer is when a single radio bearer, such as one of the radio bearers provided by the PDCPs 214 and 224 as a service to the SDAPs 215 and 225, is handled by cell groups in dual connectivity. The PDCPs 214 and 224 may map/de-map the split radio bearer between RLC channels belonging to cell groups.

The RLCs 213 and 223 may perform segmentation, retransmission through Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ), and removal of duplicate data units received from MACs 212 and 222, respectively. The RLCs 213 and 223 may support three transmission modes: transparent mode (TM); unacknowledged mode (UM); and acknowledged mode (AM). Based on the transmission mode an RLC is operating, the RLC may perform one or more of the noted functions. The RLC configuration may be per logical channel with no dependency on numerologies and/or Transmission Time Interval (TTI) durations. As shown in FIG. 3 , the RLCs 213 and 223 may provide RLC channels as a service to PDCPs 214 and 224, respectively.

The MACs 212 and 222 may perform multiplexing/demultiplexing of logical channels and/or mapping between logical channels and transport channels. The multiplexing/demultiplexing may include multiplexing/demultiplexing of data units, belonging to the one or more logical channels, into/from Transport Blocks (TBs) delivered to/from the PHYs 211 and 221. The MAC 222 may be configured to perform scheduling, scheduling information reporting, and priority handling between UEs by means of dynamic scheduling. Scheduling may be performed in the gNB 220 (at the MAC 222) for downlink and uplink. The MACs 212 and 222 may be configured to perform error correction through Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) (e.g., one HARQ entity per carrier in case of Carrier Aggregation (CA)), priority handling between logical channels of the UE 210 by means of logical channel prioritization, and/or padding. The MACs 212 and 222 may support one or more numerologies and/or transmission timings. In an example, mapping restrictions in a logical channel prioritization may control which numerology and/or transmission timing a logical channel may use. As shown in FIG. 3 , the MACs 212 and 222 may provide logical channels as a service to the RLCs 213 and 223.

The PHYs 211 and 221 may perform mapping of transport channels to physical channels and digital and analog signal processing functions for sending and receiving information over the air interface. These digital and analog signal processing functions may include, for example, coding/decoding and modulation/demodulation. The PHYs 211 and 221 may perform multi-antenna mapping. As shown in FIG. 3 , the PHYs 211 and 221 may provide one or more transport channels as a service to the MACs 212 and 222.

FIG. 4A illustrates an example downlink data flow through the NR user plane protocol stack. FIG. 4A illustrates a downlink data flow of three IP packets (n, n+1, and m) through the NR user plane protocol stack to generate two TBs at the gNB 220. An uplink data flow through the NR user plane protocol stack may be similar to the downlink data flow depicted in FIG. 4A.

The downlink data flow of FIG. 4A begins when SDAP 225 receives the three IP packets from one or more QoS flows and maps the three packets to radio bearers. In FIG. 4A, the SDAP 225 maps IP packets n and n+1 to a first radio bearer 402 and maps IP packet m to a second radio bearer 404. An SDAP header (labeled with an “H” in FIG. 4A) is added to an IP packet. The data unit from/to a higher protocol layer is referred to as a service data unit (SDU) of the lower protocol layer and the data unit to/from a lower protocol layer is referred to as a protocol data unit (PDU) of the higher protocol layer. As shown in FIG. 4A, the data unit from the SDAP 225 is an SDU of lower protocol layer PDCP 224 and is a PDU of the SDAP 225.

The remaining protocol layers in FIG. 4A may perform their associated functionality (e.g., with respect to FIG. 3 ), add corresponding headers, and forward their respective outputs to the next lower layer. For example, the PDCP 224 may perform IP-header compression and ciphering and forward its output to the RLC 223. The RLC 223 may optionally perform segmentation (e.g., as shown for IP packet m in FIG. 4A) and forward its output to the MAC 222. The MAC 222 may multiplex a number of RLC PDUs and may attach a MAC subheader to an RLC PDU to form a transport block. In NR, the MAC subheaders may be distributed across the MAC PDU, as illustrated in FIG. 4A. In LTE, the MAC subheaders may be entirely located at the beginning of the MAC PDU. The NR MAC PDU structure may reduce processing time and associated latency because the MAC PDU subheaders may be computed before the full MAC PDU is assembled.

FIG. 4B illustrates an example format of a MAC subheader in a MAC PDU. The MAC subheader includes: an SDU length field for indicating the length (e.g., in bytes) of the MAC SDU to which the MAC subheader corresponds; a logical channel identifier (LCID) field for identifying the logical channel from which the MAC SDU originated to aid in the demultiplexing process; a flag (F) for indicating the size of the SDU length field; and a reserved bit (R) field for future use.

FIG. 4B further illustrates MAC control elements (CEs) inserted into the MAC PDU by a MAC, such as MAC 223 or MAC 222. For example, FIG. 4B illustrates two MAC CEs inserted into the MAC PDU. MAC CEs may be inserted at the beginning of a MAC PDU for downlink transmissions (as shown in FIG. 4B) and at the end of a MAC PDU for uplink transmissions. MAC CEs may be used for in-band control signaling. Example MAC CEs include: scheduling-related MAC CEs, such as buffer status reports and power headroom reports; activation/deactivation MAC CEs, such as those for activation/deactivation of PDCP duplication detection, channel state information (CSI) reporting, sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission, and prior configured components; discontinuous reception (DRX) related MAC CEs; timing advance MAC CEs; and random access related MAC CEs. A MAC CE may be preceded by a MAC subheader with a similar format as described for MAC SDUs and may be identified with a reserved value in the LCID field that indicates the type of control information included in the MAC CE.

Before describing the NR control plane protocol stack, logical channels, transport channels, and physical channels are first described as well as a mapping between the channel types. One or more of the channels may be used to carry out functions associated with the NR control plane protocol stack described later below.

FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B illustrate, for downlink and uplink respectively, a mapping between logical channels, transport channels, and physical channels. Information is passed through channels between the RLC, the MAC, and the PHY of the NR protocol stack. A logical channel may be used between the RLC and the MAC and may be classified as a control channel that carries control and configuration information in the NR control plane or as a traffic channel that carries data in the NR user plane. A logical channel may be classified as a dedicated logical channel that is dedicated to a specific UE or as a common logical channel that may be used by more than one UE. A logical channel may also be defined by the type of information it carries. The set of logical channels defined by NR include, for example:

-   -   a paging control channel (PCCH) for carrying paging messages         used to page a UE whose location is not known to the network on         a cell level;     -   a broadcast control channel (BCCH) for carrying system         information messages in the form of a master information block         (MIB) and several system information blocks (SIBs), wherein the         system information messages may be used by the UEs to obtain         information about how a cell is configured and how to operate         within the cell;     -   a common control channel (CCCH) for carrying control messages         together with random access;     -   a dedicated control channel (DCCH) for carrying control messages         to/from a specific the UE to configure the UE; and     -   a dedicated traffic channel (DTCH) for carrying user data         to/from a specific the UE.

Transport channels are used between the MAC and PHY layers and may be defined by how the information they carry is transmitted over the air interface. The set of transport channels defined by NR include, for example:

-   -   a paging channel (PCH) for carrying paging messages that         originated from the PCCH;     -   a broadcast channel (BCH) for carrying the MIB from the BCCH;     -   a downlink shared channel (DL-SCH) for carrying downlink data         and signaling messages, including the SIBs from the BCCH;     -   an uplink shared channel (UL-SCH) for carrying uplink data and         signaling messages; and     -   a random access channel (RACH) for allowing a UE to contact the         network without any prior scheduling.

The PHY may use physical channels to pass information between processing levels of the PHY. A physical channel may have an associated set of time-frequency resources for carrying the information of one or more transport channels. The PHY may generate control information to support the low-level operation of the PHY and provide the control information to the lower levels of the PHY via physical control channels, known as L1/L2 control channels. The set of physical channels and physical control channels defined by NR include, for example:

-   -   a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) for carrying the MIB from         the BCH;     -   a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) for carrying downlink         data and signaling messages from the DL-SCH, as well as paging         messages from the PCH;     -   a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for carrying         downlink control information (DCI), which may include downlink         scheduling commands, uplink scheduling grants, and uplink power         control commands;     -   a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) for carrying uplink         data and signaling messages from the UL-SCH and in some         instances uplink control information (UCI) as described below;     -   a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) for carrying UCI,         which may include HARQ acknowledgments, channel quality         indicators (CQI), pre-coding matrix indicators (PMI), rank         indicators (RI), and scheduling requests (SR); and     -   a physical random access channel (PRACH) for random access.

Similar to the physical control channels, the physical layer generates physical signals to support the low-level operation of the physical layer. As shown in FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B, the physical layer signals defined by NR include: primary synchronization signals (PSS), secondary synchronization signals (SSS), channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), demodulation reference signals (DMRS), sounding reference signals (SRS), and phase-tracking reference signals (PT-RS). These physical layer signals will be described in greater detail below.

2.2 Control Plane Protocol Stack

FIG. 2B illustrates an example NR control plane protocol stack. As shown in FIG. 2B, the NR control plane protocol stack may use the same/similar first four protocol layers as the example NR user plane protocol stack. These four protocol layers include the PHYs 211 and 221, the MACs 212 and 222, the RLCs 213 and 223, and the PDCPs 214 and 224. Instead of having the SDAPs 215 and 225 at the top of the stack as in the NR user plane protocol stack, the NR control plane stack has radio resource controls (RRCs) 216 and 226 and NAS protocols 217 and 237 at the top of the NR control plane protocol stack.

The NAS protocols 217 and 237 may provide control plane functionality between the UE 210 and the AMF 230 (e.g., the AMF 158A) or, more generally, between the UE 210 and the CN. The NAS protocols 217 and 237 may provide control plane functionality between the UE 210 and the AMF 230 via signaling messages, referred to as NAS messages. There is no direct path between the UE 210 and the AMF 230 through which the NAS messages can be transported. The NAS messages may be transported using the AS of the Uu and NG interfaces. NAS protocols 217 and 237 may provide control plane functionality such as authentication, security, connection setup, mobility management, and session management.

The RRCs 216 and 226 may provide control plane functionality between the UE 210 and the gNB 220 or, more generally, between the UE 210 and the RAN. The RRCs 216 and 226 may provide control plane functionality between the UE 210 and the gNB 220 via signaling messages, referred to as RRC messages. RRC messages may be transmitted between the UE 210 and the RAN using signaling radio bearers and the same/similar PDCP, RLC, MAC, and PHY protocol layers. The MAC may multiplex control-plane and user-plane data into the same transport block (TB). The RRCs 216 and 226 may provide control plane functionality such as: broadcast of system information related to AS and NAS; paging initiated by the CN or the RAN; establishment, maintenance and release of an RRC connection between the UE 210 and the RAN; security functions including key management; establishment, configuration, maintenance and release of signaling radio bearers and data radio bearers; mobility functions; QoS management functions; the UE measurement reporting and control of the reporting; detection of and recovery from radio link failure (RLF); and/or NAS message transfer. As part of establishing an RRC connection, RRCs 216 and 226 may establish an RRC context, which may involve configuring parameters for communication between the UE 210 and the RAN.

FIG. 6 is an example diagram showing RRC state transitions of a UE. The UE may be the same or similar to the wireless device 106 depicted in FIG. 1A, the UE 210 depicted in FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B, or any other wireless device described in the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 6 , a UE may be in at least one of three RRC states: RRC connected 602 (e.g., RRC_CONNECTED), RRC idle 604 (e.g., RRC_IDLE), and RRC inactive 606 (e.g., RRC_INACTIVE).

In RRC connected 602, the UE has an established RRC context and may have at least one RRC connection with a base station. The base station may be similar to one of the one or more base stations included in the RAN 104 depicted in FIG. 1A, one of the gNBs 160 or ng-eNBs 162 depicted in FIG. 1B, the gNB 220 depicted in FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B, or any other base station described in the present disclosure. The base station with which the UE is connected may have the RRC context for the UE. The RRC context, referred to as the UE context, may comprise parameters for communication between the UE and the base station. These parameters may include, for example: one or more AS contexts; one or more radio link configuration parameters; bearer configuration information (e.g., relating to a data radio bearer, signaling radio bearer, logical channel, QoS flow, and/or PDU session); security information; and/or PHY, MAC, RLC, PDCP, and/or SDAP layer configuration information. While in RRC connected 602, mobility of the UE may be managed by the RAN (e.g., the RAN 104 or the NG-RAN 154). The UE may measure the signal levels (e.g., reference signal levels) from a serving cell and neighboring cells and report these measurements to the base station currently serving the UE. The UE's serving base station may request a handover to a cell of one of the neighboring base stations based on the reported measurements. The RRC state may transition from RRC connected 602 to RRC idle 604 through a connection release procedure 608 or to RRC inactive 606 through a connection inactivation procedure 610.

In RRC idle 604, an RRC context may not be established for the UE. In RRC idle 604, the UE may not have an RRC connection with the base station. While in RRC idle 604, the UE may be in a sleep state for the majority of the time (e.g., to conserve battery power). The UE may wake up periodically (e.g., once in every discontinuous reception cycle) to monitor for paging messages from the RAN. Mobility of the UE may be managed by the UE through a procedure known as cell reselection. The RRC state may transition from RRC idle 604 to RRC connected 602 through a connection establishment procedure 612, which may involve a random access procedure as discussed in greater detail below.

In RRC inactive 606, the RRC context previously established is maintained in the UE and the base station. This allows for a fast transition to RRC connected 602 with reduced signaling overhead as compared to the transition from RRC idle 604 to RRC connected 602. While in RRC inactive 606, the UE may be in a sleep state and mobility of the UE may be managed by the UE through cell reselection. The RRC state may transition from RRC inactive 606 to RRC connected 602 through a connection resume procedure 614 or to RRC idle 604 though a connection release procedure 616 that may be the same as or similar to connection release procedure 608.

An RRC state may be associated with a mobility management mechanism. In RRC idle 604 and RRC inactive 606, mobility is managed by the UE through cell reselection. The purpose of mobility management in RRC idle 604 and RRC inactive 606 is to allow the network to be able to notify the UE of an event via a paging message without having to broadcast the paging message over the entire mobile communications network. The mobility management mechanism used in RRC idle 604 and RRC inactive 606 may allow the network to track the UE on a cell-group level so that the paging message may be broadcast over the cells of the cell group that the UE currently resides within instead of the entire mobile communication network. The mobility management mechanisms for RRC idle 604 and RRC inactive 606 track the UE on a cell-group level. They may do so using different granularities of grouping. For example, there may be three levels of cell-grouping granularity: individual cells; cells within a RAN area identified by a RAN area identifier (RAI); and cells within a group of RAN areas, referred to as a tracking area and identified by a tracking area identifier (TAI).

Tracking areas may be used to track the UE at the CN level. The CN (e.g., the CN 102 or the 5G-CN 152) may provide the UE with a list of TAIs associated with a UE registration area. If the UE moves, through cell reselection, to a cell associated with a TAI not included in the list of TAIs associated with the UE registration area, the UE may perform a registration update with the CN to allow the CN to update the UE's location and provide the UE with a new the UE registration area.

RAN areas may be used to track the UE at the RAN level. For a UE in RRC inactive 606 state, the UE may be assigned a RAN notification area. A RAN notification area may comprise one or more cell identities, a list of RAIs, or a list of TAIs. In an example, a base station may belong to one or more RAN notification areas. In an example, a cell may belong to one or more RAN notification areas. If the UE moves, through cell reselection, to a cell not included in the RAN notification area assigned to the UE, the UE may perform a notification area update with the RAN to update the UE's RAN notification area.

A base station storing an RRC context for a UE or a last serving base station of the UE may be referred to as an anchor base station. An anchor base station may maintain an RRC context for the UE at least during a period of time that the UE stays in a RAN notification area of the anchor base station and/or during a period of time that the UE stays in RRC inactive 606.

A gNB, such as gNBs 160 in FIG. 1B, may be split in two parts: a central unit (gNB-CU), and one or more distributed units (gNB-DU). A gNB-CU may be coupled to one or more gNB-DUs using an F1 interface. The gNB-CU may comprise the RRC, the PDCP, and the SDAP. A gNB-DU may comprise the RLC, the MAC, and the PHY.

3. Transmission Structure

In NR, the physical signals and physical channels (discussed with respect to FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B) may be mapped onto orthogonal frequency divisional multiplexing (OFDM) symbols. OFDM is a multicarrier communication scheme that transmits data over F orthogonal subcarriers (or tones). Before transmission, the data may be mapped to a series of complex symbols (e.g., M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM) or M-phase shift keying (M-PSK) symbols), referred to as source symbols, and divided into F parallel symbol streams. The F parallel symbol streams may be treated as though they are in the frequency domain and used as inputs to an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) block that transforms them into the time domain. The IFFT block may take in F source symbols at a time, one from each of the F parallel symbol streams, and use each source symbol to modulate the amplitude and phase of one of F sinusoidal basis functions that correspond to the F orthogonal subcarriers. The output of the IFFT block may be F time-domain samples that represent the summation of the F orthogonal subcarriers. The F time-domain samples may form a single OFDM symbol. After some processing (e.g., addition of a cyclic prefix) and up-conversion, an OFDM symbol provided by the IFFT block may be transmitted over the air interface on a carrier frequency. The F parallel symbol streams may be mixed using an FFT block before being processed by the IFFT block. This operation produces Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT)-precoded OFDM symbols and may be used by UEs in the uplink to reduce the peak to average power ratio (PAPR). Inverse processing may be performed on the OFDM symbol at a receiver using an FFT block to recover the data mapped to the source symbols.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example configuration of an NR frame into which OFDM symbols are grouped. An NR frame may be identified by a system frame number (SFN). The SFN may repeat with a period of 1024 frames. As illustrated, one NR frame may be 10 milliseconds (ms) in duration and may include 10 subframes that are 1 ms in duration. A subframe may be divided into slots that include, for example, 14 OFDM symbols per slot.

The duration of a slot may depend on the numerology used for the OFDM symbols of the slot. In NR, a flexible numerology is supported to accommodate different cell deployments (e.g., cells with carrier frequencies below 1 GHz up to cells with carrier frequencies in the mm-wave range). A numerology may be defined in terms of subcarrier spacing and cyclic prefix duration. For a numerology in NR, subcarrier spacings may be scaled up by powers of two from a baseline subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, and cyclic prefix durations may be scaled down by powers of two from a baseline cyclic prefix duration of 4.7 μs. For example, NR defines numerologies with the following subcarrier spacing/cyclic prefix duration combinations: 15 kHz/4.7 μs; 30 kHz/2.3 μs; 60 kHz/1.2 μs; 120 kHz/0.59 μs; and 240 kHz/0.29 μs.

A slot may have a fixed number of OFDM symbols (e.g., 14 OFDM symbols). A numerology with a higher subcarrier spacing has a shorter slot duration and, correspondingly, more slots per subframe. FIG. 7 illustrates this numerology-dependent slot duration and slots-per-subframe transmission structure (the numerology with a subcarrier spacing of 240 kHz is not shown in FIG. 7 for ease of illustration). A subframe in NR may be used as a numerology-independent time reference, while a slot may be used as the unit upon which uplink and downlink transmissions are scheduled. To support low latency, scheduling in NR may be decoupled from the slot duration and start at any OFDM symbol and last for as many symbols as needed for a transmission. These partial slot transmissions may be referred to as mini-slot or subslot transmissions.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example configuration of a slot in the time and frequency domain for an NR carrier. The slot includes resource elements (REs) and resource blocks (RBs). An RE is the smallest physical resource in NR. An RE spans one OFDM symbol in the time domain by one subcarrier in the frequency domain as shown in FIG. 8 . An RB spans twelve consecutive REs in the frequency domain as shown in FIG. 8 . An NR carrier may be limited to a width of 275 RBs or 275×12=3300 subcarriers. Such a limitation, if used, may limit the NR carrier to 50, 100, 200, and 400 MHz for subcarrier spacings of 15, 30, 60, and 120 kHz, respectively, where the 400 MHz bandwidth may be set based on a 400 MHz per carrier bandwidth limit.

FIG. 8 illustrates a single numerology being used across the entire bandwidth of the NR carrier. In other example configurations, multiple numerologies may be supported on the same carrier.

4. Transmission and Reception Techniques 4.1 Bandwidth Parts

NR may support wide carrier bandwidths (e.g., up to 400 MHz for a subcarrier spacing of 120 kHz). Not all UEs may be able to receive the full carrier bandwidth (e.g., due to hardware limitations). Also, receiving the full carrier bandwidth may be prohibitive in terms of UE power consumption. In an example, to reduce power consumption and/or for other purposes, a UE may adapt the size of the UE's receive bandwidth based on the amount of traffic the UE is scheduled to receive. This is referred to as bandwidth adaptation.

NR defines bandwidth parts (BWPs) to support UEs not capable of receiving the full carrier bandwidth and to support bandwidth adaptation. In an example, a BWP may be defined by a subset of contiguous RBs on a carrier. A UE may be configured (e.g., via RRC layer) with one or more downlink BWPs and one or more uplink BWPs per serving cell (e.g., up to four downlink BWPs and up to four uplink BWPs per serving cell). At a given time, one or more of the configured BWPs for a serving cell may be active. These one or more BWPs may be referred to as active BWPs of the serving cell. When a serving cell is configured with a secondary uplink carrier, the serving cell may have one or more first active BWPs in the uplink carrier and one or more second active BWPs in the secondary uplink carrier.

For unpaired spectra, a downlink BWP from a set of configured downlink BWPs may be linked with an uplink BWP from a set of configured uplink BWPs if a downlink BWP index of the downlink BWP and an uplink BWP index of the uplink BWP are the same. For unpaired spectra, a UE may expect that a center frequency for a downlink BWP is the same as a center frequency for an uplink BWP.

For a downlink BWP in a set of configured downlink BWPs on a primary cell (PCell), a base station may configure a UE with one or more control resource sets (CORESETs) for at least one search space. A search space is a set of locations in the time and frequency domains where the UE may find control information. The search space may be a UE-specific search space or a common search space (potentially usable by a plurality of UEs). For example, a base station may configure a UE with a common search space, on a PCell or on a primary secondary cell (PSCell), in an active downlink BWP.

For an uplink BWP in a set of configured uplink BWPs, a BS may configure a UE with one or more resource sets for one or more PUCCH transmissions. A UE may receive downlink receptions (e.g., PDCCH or PDSCH) in a downlink BWP according to a configured numerology (e.g., subcarrier spacing and cyclic prefix duration) for the downlink BWP. The UE may transmit uplink transmissions (e.g., PUCCH or PUSCH) in an uplink BWP according to a configured numerology (e.g., subcarrier spacing and cyclic prefix length for the uplink BWP).

One or more BWP indicator fields may be provided in Downlink Control Information (DCI). A value of a BWP indicator field may indicate which BWP in a set of configured BWPs is an active downlink BWP for one or more downlink receptions. The value of the one or more BWP indicator fields may indicate an active uplink BWP for one or more uplink transmissions.

A base station may semi-statically configure a UE with a default downlink BWP within a set of configured downlink BWPs associated with a PCell. If the base station does not provide the default downlink BWP to the UE, the default downlink BWP may be an initial active downlink BWP. The UE may determine which BWP is the initial active downlink BWP based on a CORESET configuration obtained using the PBCH.

A base station may configure a UE with a BWP inactivity timer value for a PCell. The UE may start or restart a BWP inactivity timer at any appropriate time. For example, the UE may start or restart the BWP inactivity timer (a) when the UE detects a DCI indicating an active downlink BWP other than a default downlink BWP for a paired spectra operation; or (b) when a UE detects a DCI indicating an active downlink BWP or active uplink BWP other than a default downlink BWP or uplink BWP for an unpaired spectra operation. If the UE does not detect DCI during an interval of time (e.g., 1 ms or 0.5 ms), the UE may run the BWP inactivity timer toward expiration (for example, increment from zero to the BWP inactivity timer value, or decrement from the BWP inactivity timer value to zero). When the BWP inactivity timer expires, the UE may switch from the active downlink BWP to the default downlink BWP.

In an example, a base station may semi-statically configure a UE with one or more BWPs. A UE may switch an active BWP from a first BWP to a second BWP in response to receiving a DCI indicating the second BWP as an active BWP and/or in response to an expiry of the BWP inactivity timer (e.g., if the second BWP is the default BWP).

Downlink and uplink BWP switching (where BWP switching refers to switching from a currently active BWP to a not currently active BWP) may be performed independently in paired spectra. In unpaired spectra, downlink and uplink BWP switching may be performed simultaneously. Switching between configured BWPs may occur based on RRC signaling, DCI, expiration of a BWP inactivity timer, and/or an initiation of random access.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of bandwidth adaptation using three configured BWPs for an NR carrier. A UE configured with the three BWPs may switch from one BWP to another BWP at a switching point. In the example illustrated in FIG. 9 , the BWPs include: a BWP 902 with a bandwidth of 40 MHz and a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz; a BWP 904 with a bandwidth of 10 MHz and a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz; and a BWP 906 with a bandwidth of 20 MHz and a subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz. The BWP 902 may be an initial active BWP, and the BWP 904 may be a default BWP. The UE may switch between BWPs at switching points. In the example of FIG. 9 , the UE may switch from the BWP 902 to the BWP 904 at a switching point 908. The switching at the switching point 908 may occur for any suitable reason, for example, in response to an expiry of a BWP inactivity timer (indicating switching to the default BWP) and/or in response to receiving a DCI indicating BWP 904 as the active BWP. The UE may switch at a switching point 910 from active BWP 904 to BWP 906 in response receiving a DCI indicating BWP 906 as the active BWP. The UE may switch at a switching point 912 from active BWP 906 to BWP 904 in response to an expiry of a BWP inactivity timer and/or in response receiving a DCI indicating BWP 904 as the active BWP. The UE may switch at a switching point 914 from active BWP 904 to BWP 902 in response receiving a DCI indicating BWP 902 as the active BWP.

If a UE is configured for a secondary cell with a default downlink BWP in a set of configured downlink BWPs and a timer value, UE procedures for switching BWPs on a secondary cell may be the same/similar as those on a primary cell. For example, the UE may use the timer value and the default downlink BWP for the secondary cell in the same/similar manner as the UE would use these values for a primary cell.

4.2 Carrier Aggregation

To provide for greater data rates, two or more carriers can be aggregated and simultaneously transmitted to/from the same UE using carrier aggregation (CA). The aggregated carriers in CA may be referred to as component carriers (CCs). When CA is used, there are a number of serving cells for the UE, one for a CC. The CCs may have three configurations in the frequency domain.

FIG. 10A illustrates the three CA configurations with two CCs. In the intraband, contiguous configuration 1002, the two CCs are aggregated in the same frequency band (frequency band A) and are located directly adjacent to each other within the frequency band. In the intraband, non-contiguous configuration 1004, the two CCs are aggregated in the same frequency band (frequency band A) and are separated in the frequency band by a gap. In the interband configuration 1006, the two CCs are located in frequency bands (frequency band A and frequency band B).

In an example, up to 32 CCs may be aggregated. The aggregated CCs may have the same or different bandwidths, subcarrier spacing, and/or duplexing schemes (TDD or FDD). A serving cell for a UE using CA may have a downlink CC. For FDD, one or more uplink CCs may be optionally configured for a serving cell. The ability to aggregate more downlink carriers than uplink carriers may be useful, for example, when the UE has more data traffic in the downlink than in the uplink.

When CA is used, one of the aggregated cells for a UE may be referred to as a primary cell (PCell). The PCell may be the serving cell that the UE initially connects to at RRC connection establishment, reestablishment, and/or handover. The PCell may provide the UE with NAS mobility information and the security input. UEs may have different PCells. In the downlink, the carrier corresponding to the PCell may be referred to as the downlink primary CC (DL PCC). In the uplink, the carrier corresponding to the PCell may be referred to as the uplink primary CC (UL PCC). The other aggregated cells for the UE may be referred to as secondary cells (SCells). In an example, the SCells may be configured after the PCell is configured for the UE. For example, an SCell may be configured through an RRC Connection Reconfiguration procedure. In the downlink, the carrier corresponding to an SCell may be referred to as a downlink secondary CC (DL SCC). In the uplink, the carrier corresponding to the SCell may be referred to as the uplink secondary CC (UL SCC).

Configured SCells for a UE may be activated and deactivated based on, for example, traffic and channel conditions. Deactivation of an SCell may mean that PDCCH and PDSCH reception on the SCell is stopped and PUSCH, SRS, and CQI transmissions on the SCell are stopped. Configured SCells may be activated and deactivated using a MAC CE with respect to FIG. 4B. For example, a MAC CE may use a bitmap (e.g., one bit per SCell) to indicate which SCells (e.g., in a subset of configured SCells) for the UE are activated or deactivated. Configured SCells may be deactivated in response to an expiration of an SCell deactivation timer (e.g., one SCell deactivation timer per SCell).

Downlink control information, such as scheduling assignments and scheduling grants, for a cell may be transmitted on the cell corresponding to the assignments and grants, which is known as self-scheduling. The DCI for the cell may be transmitted on another cell, which is known as cross-carrier scheduling. Uplink control information (e.g., HARQ acknowledgments and channel state feedback, such as CQI, PMI, and/or RI) for aggregated cells may be transmitted on the PUCCH of the PCell. For a larger number of aggregated downlink CCs, the PUCCH of the PCell may become overloaded. Cells may be divided into multiple PUCCH groups.

FIG. 10B illustrates an example of how aggregated cells may be configured into one or more PUCCH groups. A PUCCH group 1010 and a PUCCH group 1050 may include one or more downlink CCs, respectively. In the example of FIG. 10B, the PUCCH group 1010 includes three downlink CCs: a PCell 1011, an SCell 1012, and an SCell 1013. The PUCCH group 1050 includes three downlink CCs in the present example: a PCell 1051, an SCell 1052, and an SCell 1053. One or more uplink CCs may be configured as a PCell 1021, an SCell 1022, and an SCell 1023. One or more other uplink CCs may be configured as a primary Scell (PSCell) 1061, an SCell 1062, and an SCell 1063. Uplink control information (UCI) related to the downlink CCs of the PUCCH group 1010, shown as UCI 1031, UCI 1032, and UCI 1033, may be transmitted in the uplink of the PCell 1021. Uplink control information (UCI) related to the downlink CCs of the PUCCH group 1050, shown as UCI 1071, UCI 1072, and UCI 1073, may be transmitted in the uplink of the PSCell 1061. In an example, if the aggregated cells depicted in FIG. 10B were not divided into the PUCCH group 1010 and the PUCCH group 1050, a single uplink PCell to transmit UCI relating to the downlink CCs, and the PCell may become overloaded. By dividing transmissions of UCI between the PCell 1021 and the PSCell 1061, overloading may be prevented.

A cell, comprising a downlink carrier and optionally an uplink carrier, may be assigned with a physical cell ID and a cell index. The physical cell ID or the cell index may identify a downlink carrier and/or an uplink carrier of the cell, for example, depending on the context in which the physical cell ID is used. A physical cell ID may be determined using a synchronization signal transmitted on a downlink component carrier. A cell index may be determined using RRC messages. In the disclosure, a physical cell ID may be referred to as a carrier ID, and a cell index may be referred to as a carrier index. For example, when the disclosure refers to a first physical cell ID for a first downlink carrier, the disclosure may mean the first physical cell ID is for a cell comprising the first downlink carrier. The same/similar concept may apply to, for example, a carrier activation. When the disclosure indicates that a first carrier is activated, the specification may mean that a cell comprising the first carrier is activated.

In CA, a multi-carrier nature of a PHY may be exposed to a MAC. In an example, a HARQ entity may operate on a serving cell. A transport block may be generated per assignment/grant per serving cell. A transport block and potential HARQ retransmissions of the transport block may be mapped to a serving cell.

5. Reference Signals

In the downlink, a base station may transmit (e.g., unicast, multicast, and/or broadcast) one or more Reference Signals (RSs) to a UE (e.g., PSS, SSS, CSI-RS, DMRS, and/or PT-RS, as shown in FIG. 5A). In the uplink, the UE may transmit one or more RSs to the base station (e.g., DMRS, PT-RS, and/or SRS, as shown in FIG. 5B). The PSS and the SSS may be transmitted by the base station and used by the UE to synchronize the UE to the base station. The PSS and the SSS may be provided in a synchronization signal (SS)/physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block that includes the PSS, the SSS, and the PBCH. The base station may periodically transmit a burst of SS/PBCH blocks.

FIG. 11A illustrates an example of an SS/PBCH block's structure and location. A burst of SS/PBCH blocks may include one or more SS/PBCH blocks (e.g., 4 SS/PBCH blocks, as shown in FIG. 11A). Bursts may be transmitted periodically (e.g., every 2 frames or 20 ms). A burst may be restricted to a half-frame (e.g., a first half-frame having a duration of 5 ms). It will be understood that FIG. 11A is an example, and that these parameters (number of SS/PBCH blocks per burst, periodicity of bursts, position of burst within the frame) may be configured based on, for example: a carrier frequency of a cell in which the SS/PBCH block is transmitted; a numerology or subcarrier spacing of the cell; a configuration by the network (e.g., using RRC signaling); or any other suitable factor. In an example, the UE may assume a subcarrier spacing for the SS/PBCH block based on the carrier frequency being monitored, unless the radio network configured the UE to assume a different subcarrier spacing.

The SS/PBCH block may span one or more OFDM symbols in the time domain (e.g., 4 OFDM symbols, as shown in the example of FIG. 11A) and may span one or more subcarriers in the frequency domain (e.g., 240 contiguous subcarriers). The PSS, the SSS, and the PBCH may have a common center frequency. The PSS may be transmitted first and may span, for example, 1 OFDM symbol and 127 subcarriers. The SSS may be transmitted after the PSS (e.g., two symbols later) and may span 1 OFDM symbol and 127 subcarriers. The PBCH may be transmitted after the PSS (e.g., across the next 3 OFDM symbols) and may span 240 subcarriers.

The location of the SS/PBCH block in the time and frequency domains may not be known to the UE (e.g., if the UE is searching for the cell). To find and select the cell, the UE may monitor a carrier for the PSS. For example, the UE may monitor a frequency location within the carrier. If the PSS is not found after a certain duration (e.g., 20 ms), the UE may search for the PSS at a different frequency location within the carrier, as indicated by a synchronization raster. If the PSS is found at a location in the time and frequency domains, the UE may determine, based on a known structure of the SS/PBCH block, the locations of the SSS and the PBCH, respectively. The SS/PBCH block may be a cell-defining SS block (CD-SSB). In an example, a primary cell may be associated with a CD-SSB. The CD-SSB may be located on a synchronization raster. In an example, a cell selection/search and/or reselection may be based on the CD-SSB.

The SS/PBCH block may be used by the UE to determine one or more parameters of the cell. For example, the UE may determine a physical cell identifier (PCI) of the cell based on the sequences of the PSS and the SSS, respectively. The UE may determine a location of a frame boundary of the cell based on the location of the SS/PBCH block. For example, the SS/PBCH block may indicate that it has been transmitted in accordance with a transmission pattern, wherein a SS/PBCH block in the transmission pattern is a known distance from the frame boundary.

The PBCH may use a QPSK modulation and may use forward error correction (FEC). The FEC may use polar coding. One or more symbols spanned by the PBCH may carry one or more DMRSs for demodulation of the PBCH. The PBCH may include an indication of a current system frame number (SFN) of the cell and/or a SS/PBCH block timing index. These parameters may facilitate time synchronization of the UE to the base station. The PBCH may include a master information block (MIB) used to provide the UE with one or more parameters. The MIB may be used by the UE to locate remaining minimum system information (RMSI) associated with the cell. The RMSI may include a System Information Block Type 1 (SIB1). The SIB1 may contain information needed by the UE to access the cell. The UE may use one or more parameters of the MIB to monitor PDCCH, which may be used to schedule PDSCH. The PDSCH may include the SIB1. The SIB1 may be decoded using parameters provided in the MIB. The PBCH may indicate an absence of SIB1. Based on the PBCH indicating the absence of SIB1, the UE may be pointed to a frequency. The UE may search for an SS/PBCH block at the frequency to which the UE is pointed.

The UE may assume that one or more SS/PBCH blocks transmitted with a same SS/PBCH block index are quasi co-located (QCLed) (e.g., having the same/similar Doppler spread, Doppler shift, average gain, average delay, and/or spatial Rx parameters). The UE may not assume QCL for SS/PBCH block transmissions having different SS/PBCH block indices.

SS/PBCH blocks (e.g., those within a half-frame) may be transmitted in spatial directions (e.g., using different beams that span a coverage area of the cell). In an example, a first SS/PBCH block may be transmitted in a first spatial direction using a first beam, and a second SS/PBCH block may be transmitted in a second spatial direction using a second beam.

In an example, within a frequency span of a carrier, a base station may transmit a plurality of SS/PBCH blocks. In an example, a first PCI of a first SS/PBCH block of the plurality of SS/PBCH blocks may be different from a second PCI of a second SS/PBCH block of the plurality of SS/PBCH blocks. The PCIs of SS/PBCH blocks transmitted in different frequency locations may be different or the same.

The CSI-RS may be transmitted by the base station and used by the UE to acquire channel state information (CSI). The base station may configure the UE with one or more CSI-RSs for channel estimation or any other suitable purpose. The base station may configure a UE with one or more of the same/similar CSI-RSs. The UE may measure the one or more CSI-RSs. The UE may estimate a downlink channel state and/or generate a CSI report based on the measuring of the one or more downlink CSI-RSs. The UE may provide the CSI report to the base station. The base station may use feedback provided by the UE (e.g., the estimated downlink channel state) to perform link adaptation.

The base station may semi-statically configure the UE with one or more CSI-RS resource sets. A CSI-RS resource may be associated with a location in the time and frequency domains and a periodicity. The base station may selectively activate and/or deactivate a CSI-RS resource. The base station may indicate to the UE that a CSI-RS resource in the CSI-RS resource set is activated and/or deactivated.

The base station may configure the UE to report CSI measurements. The base station may configure the UE to provide CSI reports periodically, aperiodically, or semi-persistently. For periodic CSI reporting, the UE may be configured with a timing and/or periodicity of a plurality of CSI reports. For aperiodic CSI reporting, the base station may request a CSI report. For example, the base station may command the UE to measure a configured CSI-RS resource and provide a CSI report relating to the measurements. For semi-persistent CSI reporting, the base station may configure the UE to transmit periodically, and selectively activate or deactivate the periodic reporting. The base station may configure the UE with a CSI-RS resource set and CSI reports using RRC signaling.

The CSI-RS configuration may comprise one or more parameters indicating, for example, up to 32 antenna ports. The UE may be configured to employ the same OFDM symbols for a downlink CSI-RS and a control resource set (CORESET) when the downlink CSI-RS and CORESET are spatially QCLed and resource elements associated with the downlink CSI-RS are outside of the physical resource blocks (PRBs) configured for the CORESET. The UE may be configured to employ the same OFDM symbols for downlink CSI-RS and SS/PBCH blocks when the downlink CSI-RS and SS/PBCH blocks are spatially QCLed and resource elements associated with the downlink CSI-RS are outside of PRBs configured for the SS/PBCH blocks.

Downlink DMRSs may be transmitted by a base station and used by a UE for channel estimation. For example, the downlink DMRS may be used for coherent demodulation of one or more downlink physical channels (e.g., PDSCH). An NR network may support one or more variable and/or configurable DMRS patterns for data demodulation. At least one downlink DMRS configuration may support a front-loaded DMRS pattern. A front-loaded DMRS may be mapped over one or more OFDM symbols (e.g., one or two adjacent OFDM symbols). A base station may semi-statically configure the UE with a number (e.g. a maximum number) of front-loaded DMRS symbols for PDSCH. A DMRS configuration may support one or more DMRS ports. For example, for single user-MIMO, a DMRS configuration may support up to eight orthogonal downlink DMRS ports per UE. For multiuser-MIMO, a DMRS configuration may support up to 4 orthogonal downlink DMRS ports per UE. A radio network may support (e.g., at least for CP-OFDM) a common DMRS structure for downlink and uplink, wherein a DMRS location, a DMRS pattern, and/or a scrambling sequence may be the same or different. The base station may transmit a downlink DMRS and a corresponding PDSCH using the same precoding matrix. The UE may use the one or more downlink DMRSs for coherent demodulation/channel estimation of the PDSCH.

In an example, a transmitter (e.g., a base station) may use a precoder matrices for a part of a transmission bandwidth. For example, the transmitter may use a first precoder matrix for a first bandwidth and a second precoder matrix for a second bandwidth. The first precoder matrix and the second precoder matrix may be different based on the first bandwidth being different from the second bandwidth. The UE may assume that a same precoding matrix is used across a set of PRBs. The set of PRBs may be denoted as a precoding resource block group (PRG).

A PDSCH may comprise one or more layers. The UE may assume that at least one symbol with DMRS is present on a layer of the one or more layers of the PDSCH. A higher layer may configure up to 3 DMRSs for the PDSCH.

Downlink PT-RS may be transmitted by a base station and used by a UE for phase-noise compensation. Whether a downlink PT-RS is present or not may depend on an RRC configuration. The presence and/or pattern of the downlink PT-RS may be configured on a UE-specific basis using a combination of RRC signaling and/or an association with one or more parameters employed for other purposes (e.g., modulation and coding scheme (MCS)), which may be indicated by DCI. When configured, a dynamic presence of a downlink PT-RS may be associated with one or more DCI parameters comprising at least MCS. An NR network may support a plurality of PT-RS densities defined in the time and/or frequency domains. When present, a frequency domain density may be associated with at least one configuration of a scheduled bandwidth. The UE may assume a same precoding for a DMRS port and a PT-RS port. A number of PT-RS ports may be fewer than a number of DMRS ports in a scheduled resource. Downlink PT-RS may be confined in the scheduled time/frequency duration for the UE. Downlink PT-RS may be transmitted on symbols to facilitate phase tracking at the receiver.

The UE may transmit an uplink DMRS to a base station for channel estimation. For example, the base station may use the uplink DMRS for coherent demodulation of one or more uplink physical channels. For example, the UE may transmit an uplink DMRS with a PUSCH and/or a PUCCH. The uplink DM-RS may span a range of frequencies that is similar to a range of frequencies associated with the corresponding physical channel. The base station may configure the UE with one or more uplink DMRS configurations. At least one DMRS configuration may support a front-loaded DMRS pattern. The front-loaded DMRS may be mapped over one or more OFDM symbols (e.g., one or two adjacent OFDM symbols). One or more uplink DMRSs may be configured to transmit at one or more symbols of a PUSCH and/or a PUCCH. The base station may semi-statically configure the UE with a number (e.g. maximum number) of front-loaded DMRS symbols for the PUSCH and/or the PUCCH, which the UE may use to schedule a single-symbol DMRS and/or a double-symbol DMRS. An NR network may support (e.g., for cyclic prefix orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CP-OFDM)) a common DMRS structure for downlink and uplink, wherein a DMRS location, a DMRS pattern, and/or a scrambling sequence for the DMRS may be the same or different.

A PUSCH may comprise one or more layers, and the UE may transmit at least one symbol with DMRS present on a layer of the one or more layers of the PUSCH. In an example, a higher layer may configure up to three DMRSs for the PUSCH.

Uplink PT-RS (which may be used by a base station for phase tracking and/or phase-noise compensation) may or may not be present depending on an RRC configuration of the UE. The presence and/or pattern of uplink PT-RS may be configured on a UE-specific basis by a combination of RRC signaling and/or one or more parameters employed for other purposes (e.g., Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS)), which may be indicated by DCI. When configured, a dynamic presence of uplink PT-RS may be associated with one or more DCI parameters comprising at least MCS. A radio network may support a plurality of uplink PT-RS densities defined in time/frequency domain. When present, a frequency domain density may be associated with at least one configuration of a scheduled bandwidth. The UE may assume a same precoding for a DMRS port and a PT-RS port. A number of PT-RS ports may be fewer than a number of DMRS ports in a scheduled resource. For example, uplink PT-RS may be confined in the scheduled time/frequency duration for the UE.

SRS may be transmitted by a UE to a base station for channel state estimation to support uplink channel dependent scheduling and/or link adaptation. SRS transmitted by the UE may allow a base station to estimate an uplink channel state at one or more frequencies. A scheduler at the base station may employ the estimated uplink channel state to assign one or more resource blocks for an uplink PUSCH transmission from the UE. The base station may semi-statically configure the UE with one or more SRS resource sets. For an SRS resource set, the base station may configure the UE with one or more SRS resources. An SRS resource set applicability may be configured by a higher layer (e.g., RRC) parameter. For example, when a higher layer parameter indicates beam management, an SRS resource in a SRS resource set of the one or more SRS resource sets (e.g., with the same/similar time domain behavior, periodic, aperiodic, and/or the like) may be transmitted at a time instant (e.g., simultaneously). The UE may transmit one or more SRS resources in SRS resource sets. An NR network may support aperiodic, periodic and/or semi-persistent SRS transmissions. The UE may transmit SRS resources based on one or more trigger types, wherein the one or more trigger types may comprise higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC) and/or one or more DCI formats. In an example, at least one DCI format may be employed for the UE to select at least one of one or more configured SRS resource sets. An SRS trigger type 0 may refer to an SRS triggered based on a higher layer signaling. An SRS trigger type 1 may refer to an SRS triggered based on one or more DCI formats. In an example, when PUSCH and SRS are transmitted in a same slot, the UE may be configured to transmit SRS after a transmission of a PUSCH and a corresponding uplink DMRS.

The base station may semi-statically configure the UE with one or more SRS configuration parameters indicating at least one of following: a SRS resource configuration identifier; a number of SRS ports; time domain behavior of an SRS resource configuration (e.g., an indication of periodic, semi-persistent, or aperiodic SRS); slot, mini-slot, and/or subframe level periodicity; offset for a periodic and/or an aperiodic SRS resource; a number of OFDM symbols in an SRS resource; a starting OFDM symbol of an SRS resource; an SRS bandwidth; a frequency hopping bandwidth; a cyclic shift; and/or an SRS sequence ID.

6. Beamforming

An antenna port is defined such that the channel over which a symbol on the antenna port is conveyed can be inferred from the channel over which another symbol on the same antenna port is conveyed. If a first symbol and a second symbol are transmitted on the same antenna port, the receiver may infer the channel (e.g., fading gain, multipath delay, and/or the like) for conveying the second symbol on the antenna port, from the channel for conveying the first symbol on the antenna port. A first antenna port and a second antenna port may be referred to as quasi co-located (QCLed) if one or more large-scale properties of the channel over which a first symbol on the first antenna port is conveyed may be inferred from the channel over which a second symbol on a second antenna port is conveyed. The one or more large-scale properties may comprise at least one of: a delay spread; a Doppler spread; a Doppler shift; an average gain; an average delay; and/or spatial Receiving (Rx) parameters.

Channels that use beamforming require beam management. Beam management may comprise beam measurement, beam selection, and beam indication. A beam may be associated with one or more reference signals. For example, a beam may be identified by one or more beamformed reference signals. The UE may perform downlink beam measurement based on downlink reference signals (e.g., a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS)) and generate a beam measurement report. The UE may perform the downlink beam measurement procedure after an RRC connection is set up with a base station.

FIG. 11B illustrates an example of channel state information reference signals (CSI-RSs) that are mapped in the time and frequency domains. A square shown in FIG. 11B may span a resource block (RB) within a bandwidth of a cell. A base station may transmit one or more RRC messages comprising CSI-RS resource configuration parameters indicating one or more CSI-RSs. One or more of the following parameters may be configured by higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC and/or MAC signaling) for a CSI-RS resource configuration: a CSI-RS resource configuration identity, a number of CSI-RS ports, a CSI-RS configuration (e.g., symbol and resource element (RE) locations in a subframe), a CSI-RS subframe configuration (e.g., subframe location, offset, and periodicity in a radio frame), a CSI-RS power parameter, a CSI-RS sequence parameter, a code division multiplexing (CDM) type parameter, a frequency density, a transmission comb, quasi co-location (QCL) parameters (e.g., QCL-scramblingidentity, crs-portscount, mbsfn-subframeconfiglist, csi-rs-configZPid, qcl-csi-rs-configNZPid), and/or other radio resource parameters.

The three beams illustrated in FIG. 11B may be configured for a UE in a UE-specific configuration. Three beams are illustrated in FIG. 11B (beam #1, beam #2, and beam #3), more or fewer beams may be configured. Beam #1 may be allocated with CSI-RS 1101 that may be transmitted in one or more subcarriers in an RB of a first symbol. Beam #2 may be allocated with CSI-RS 1102 that may be transmitted in one or more subcarriers in an RB of a second symbol. Beam #3 may be allocated with CSI-RS 1103 that may be transmitted in one or more subcarriers in an RB of a third symbol. By using frequency division multiplexing (FDM), a base station may use other subcarriers in a same RB (for example, those that are not used to transmit CSI-RS 1101) to transmit another CSI-RS associated with a beam for another UE. By using time domain multiplexing (TDM), beams used for the UE may be configured such that beams for the UE use symbols from beams of other UEs.

CSI-RSs such as those illustrated in FIG. 11B (e.g., CSI-RS 1101, 1102, 1103) may be transmitted by the base station and used by the UE for one or more measurements. For example, the UE may measure a reference signal received power (RSRP) of configured CSI-RS resources. The base station may configure the UE with a reporting configuration and the UE may report the RSRP measurements to a network (for example, via one or more base stations) based on the reporting configuration. In an example, the base station may determine, based on the reported measurement results, one or more transmission configuration indication (TCI) states comprising a number of reference signals. In an example, the base station may indicate one or more TCI states to the UE (e.g., via RRC signaling, a MAC CE, and/or a DCI). The UE may receive a downlink transmission with a receive (Rx) beam determined based on the one or more TCI states. In an example, the UE may or may not have a capability of beam correspondence. If the UE has the capability of beam correspondence, the UE may determine a spatial domain filter of a transmit (Tx) beam based on a spatial domain filter of the corresponding Rx beam. If the UE does not have the capability of beam correspondence, the UE may perform an uplink beam selection procedure to determine the spatial domain filter of the Tx beam. The UE may perform the uplink beam selection procedure based on one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resources configured to the UE by the base station. The base station may select and indicate uplink beams for the UE based on measurements of the one or more SRS resources transmitted by the UE.

In a beam management procedure, a UE may assess (e.g., measure) a channel quality of one or more beam pair links, a beam pair link comprising a transmitting beam transmitted by a base station and a receiving beam received by the UE. Based on the assessment, the UE may transmit a beam measurement report indicating one or more beam pair quality parameters comprising, e.g., one or more beam identifications (e.g., a beam index, a reference signal index, or the like), RSRP, a precoding matrix indicator (PMI), a channel quality indicator (CQI), and/or a rank indicator (RI).

FIG. 12A illustrates examples of three downlink beam management procedures: P1, P2, and P3. Procedure P1 may enable a UE measurement on transmit (Tx) beams of a transmission reception point (TRP) (or multiple TRPs), e.g., to support a selection of one or more base station Tx beams and/or UE Rx beams (shown as ovals in the top row and bottom row, respectively, of P1). Beamforming at a TRP may comprise a Tx beam sweep for a set of beams (shown, in the top rows of P1 and P2, as ovals rotated in a counter-clockwise direction indicated by the dashed arrow). Beamforming at a UE may comprise an Rx beam sweep for a set of beams (shown, in the bottom rows of P1 and P3, as ovals rotated in a clockwise direction indicated by the dashed arrow). Procedure P2 may be used to enable a UE measurement on Tx beams of a TRP (shown, in the top row of P2, as ovals rotated in a counter-clockwise direction indicated by the dashed arrow). The UE and/or the base station may perform procedure P2 using a smaller set of beams than is used in procedure P1, or using narrower beams than the beams used in procedure P1. This may be referred to as beam refinement. The UE may perform procedure P3 for Rx beam determination by using the same Tx beam at the base station and sweeping an Rx beam at the UE.

FIG. 12B illustrates examples of three uplink beam management procedures: U1, U2, and U3. Procedure U1 may be used to enable a base station to perform a measurement on Tx beams of a UE, e.g., to support a selection of one or more UE Tx beams and/or base station Rx beams (shown as ovals in the top row and bottom row, respectively, of U1). Beamforming at the UE may include, e.g., a Tx beam sweep from a set of beams (shown in the bottom rows of U1 and U3 as ovals rotated in a clockwise direction indicated by the dashed arrow). Beamforming at the base station may include, e.g., an Rx beam sweep from a set of beams (shown, in the top rows of U1 and U2, as ovals rotated in a counter-clockwise direction indicated by the dashed arrow). Procedure U2 may be used to enable the base station to adjust its Rx beam when the UE uses a fixed Tx beam. The UE and/or the base station may perform procedure U2 using a smaller set of beams than is used in procedure P1, or using narrower beams than the beams used in procedure P1. This may be referred to as beam refinement The UE may perform procedure U3 to adjust its Tx beam when the base station uses a fixed Rx beam.

A UE may initiate a beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure based on detecting a beam failure. The UE may transmit a BFR request (e.g., a preamble, a UCI, an SR, a MAC CE, and/or the like) based on the initiating of the BFR procedure. The UE may detect the beam failure based on a determination that a quality of beam pair link(s) of an associated control channel is unsatisfactory (e.g., having an error rate higher than an error rate threshold, a received signal power lower than a received signal power threshold, an expiration of a timer, and/or the like).

The UE may measure a quality of a beam pair link using one or more reference signals (RSs) comprising one or more SS/PBCH blocks, one or more CSI-RS resources, and/or one or more demodulation reference signals (DMRSs). A quality of the beam pair link may be based on one or more of a block error rate (BLER), an RSRP value, a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) value, a reference signal received quality (RSRQ) value, and/or a CSI value measured on RS resources. The base station may indicate that an RS resource is quasi co-located (QCLed) with one or more DM-RSs of a channel (e.g., a control channel, a shared data channel, and/or the like). The RS resource and the one or more DMRSs of the channel may be QCLed when the channel characteristics (e.g., Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread, spatial Rx parameter, fading, and/or the like) from a transmission via the RS resource to the UE are similar or the same as the channel characteristics from a transmission via the channel to the UE.

7. Random Access

A network (e.g., a gNB and/or an ng-eNB of a network) and/or the UE may initiate a random access procedure. A UE in an RRC_IDLE state and/or an RRC_INACTIVE state may initiate the random access procedure to request a connection setup to a network. The UE may initiate the random access procedure from an RRC_CONNECTED state. The UE may initiate the random access procedure to request uplink resources (e.g., for uplink transmission of an SR when there is no PUCCH resource available) and/or acquire uplink timing (e.g., when uplink synchronization status is non-synchronized). The UE may initiate the random access procedure to request one or more system information blocks (SIBs) (e.g., other system information such as SIB2, SIB3, and/or the like). The UE may initiate the random access procedure for a beam failure recovery request. A network may initiate a random access procedure for a handover and/or for establishing time alignment for an SCell addition.

FIG. 13A illustrates a four-step contention-based random access procedure. Prior to initiation of the procedure, a base station may transmit a configuration message 1310 to the UE. The procedure illustrated in FIG. 13A comprises transmission of four messages: a Msg 1 1311, a Msg 2 1312, a Msg 3 1313, and a Msg 4 1314. The Msg 1 1311 may include and/or be referred to as a preamble (or a random access preamble). The Msg 2 1312 may include and/or be referred to as a random access response (RAR).

The configuration message 1310 may be transmitted, for example, using one or more RRC messages. The one or more RRC messages may indicate one or more random access channel (RACH) parameters to the UE. The one or more RACH parameters may comprise at least one of following: general parameters for one or more random access procedures (e.g., RACH-configGeneral); cell-specific parameters (e.g., RACH-ConfigCommon); and/or dedicated parameters (e.g., RACH-configDedicated). The base station may broadcast or multicast the one or more RRC messages to one or more UEs. The one or more RRC messages may be UE-specific (e.g., dedicated RRC messages transmitted to a UE in an RRC_CONNECTED state and/or in an RRC_INACTIVE state). The UE may determine, based on the one or more RACH parameters, a time-frequency resource and/or an uplink transmit power for transmission of the Msg 1 1311 and/or the Msg 3 1313. Based on the one or more RACH parameters, the UE may determine a reception timing and a downlink channel for receiving the Msg 2 1312 and the Msg 4 1314.

The one or more RACH parameters provided in the configuration message 1310 may indicate one or more Physical RACH (PRACH) occasions available for transmission of the Msg 1 1311. The one or more PRACH occasions may be predefined. The one or more RACH parameters may indicate one or more available sets of one or more PRACH occasions (e.g., prach-ConfigIndex). The one or more RACH parameters may indicate an association between (a) one or more PRACH occasions and (b) one or more reference signals. The one or more RACH parameters may indicate an association between (a) one or more preambles and (b) one or more reference signals. The one or more reference signals may be SS/PBCH blocks and/or CSI-RSs. For example, the one or more RACH parameters may indicate a number of SS/PBCH blocks mapped to a PRACH occasion and/or a number of preambles mapped to a SS/PBCH blocks.

The one or more RACH parameters provided in the configuration message 1310 may be used to determine an uplink transmit power of Msg 1 1311 and/or Msg 3 1313. For example, the one or more RACH parameters may indicate a reference power for a preamble transmission (e.g., a received target power and/or an initial power of the preamble transmission). There may be one or more power offsets indicated by the one or more RACH parameters. For example, the one or more RACH parameters may indicate: a power ramping step; a power offset between SSB and CSI-RS; a power offset between transmissions of the Msg 1 1311 and the Msg 3 1313; and/or a power offset value between preamble groups. The one or more RACH parameters may indicate one or more thresholds based on which the UE may determine at least one reference signal (e.g., an SSB and/or CSI-RS) and/or an uplink carrier (e.g., a normal uplink (NUL) carrier and/or a supplemental uplink (SUL) carrier).

The Msg 1 1311 may include one or more preamble transmissions (e.g., a preamble transmission and one or more preamble retransmissions). An RRC message may be used to configure one or more preamble groups (e.g., group A and/or group B). A preamble group may comprise one or more preambles. The UE may determine the preamble group based on a pathloss measurement and/or a size of the Msg 3 1313. The UE may measure an RSRP of one or more reference signals (e.g., SSBs and/or CSI-RSs) and determine at least one reference signal having an RSRP above an RSRP threshold (e.g., rsrp-ThresholdSSB and/or rsrp-ThresholdCSI-RS). The UE may select at least one preamble associated with the one or more reference signals and/or a selected preamble group, for example, if the association between the one or more preambles and the at least one reference signal is configured by an RRC message.

The UE may determine the preamble based on the one or more RACH parameters provided in the configuration message 1310. For example, the UE may determine the preamble based on a pathloss measurement, an RSRP measurement, and/or a size of the Msg 3 1313. As another example, the one or more RACH parameters may indicate: a preamble format; a maximum number of preamble transmissions; and/or one or more thresholds for determining one or more preamble groups (e.g., group A and group B). A base station may use the one or more RACH parameters to configure the UE with an association between one or more preambles and one or more reference signals (e.g., SSBs and/or CSI-RSs). If the association is configured, the UE may determine the preamble to include in Msg 1 1311 based on the association. The Msg 1 1311 may be transmitted to the base station via one or more PRACH occasions. The UE may use one or more reference signals (e.g., SSBs and/or CSI-RSs) for selection of the preamble and for determining of the PRACH occasion. One or more RACH parameters (e.g., ra-ssb-OccasionMskIndex and/or ra-OccasionList) may indicate an association between the PRACH occasions and the one or more reference signals.

The UE may perform a preamble retransmission if no response is received following a preamble transmission. The UE may increase an uplink transmit power for the preamble retransmission. The UE may select an initial preamble transmit power based on a pathloss measurement and/or a target received preamble power configured by the network. The UE may determine to retransmit a preamble and may ramp up the uplink transmit power. The UE may receive one or more RACH parameters (e.g., PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_STEP) indicating a ramping step for the preamble retransmission. The ramping step may be an amount of incremental increase in uplink transmit power for a retransmission. The UE may ramp up the uplink transmit power if the UE determines a reference signal (e.g., SSB and/or CSI-RS) that is the same as a previous preamble transmission. The UE may count a number of preamble transmissions and/or retransmissions (e.g., PREAMBLE_TRANSMISSION_COUNTER). The UE may determine that a random access procedure completed unsuccessfully, for example, if the number of preamble transmissions exceeds a threshold configured by the one or more RACH parameters (e.g., preambleTransMax).

The Msg 2 1312 received by the UE may include an RAR. In some scenarios, the Msg 2 1312 may include multiple RARs corresponding to multiple UEs. The Msg 2 1312 may be received after or in response to the transmitting of the Msg 1 1311. The Msg 2 1312 may be scheduled on the DL-SCH and indicated on a PDCCH using a random access RNTI (RA-RNTI). The Msg 2 1312 may indicate that the Msg 1 1311 was received by the base station. The Msg 2 1312 may include a time-alignment command that may be used by the UE to adjust the UE's transmission timing, a scheduling grant for transmission of the Msg 3 1313, and/or a Temporary Cell RNTI (TC-RNTI). After transmitting a preamble, the UE may start a time window (e.g., ra-ResponseWindow) to monitor a PDCCH for the Msg 2 1312. The UE may determine when to start the time window based on a PRACH occasion that the UE uses to transmit the preamble. For example, the UE may start the time window one or more symbols after a last symbol of the preamble (e.g., at a first PDCCH occasion from an end of a preamble transmission). The one or more symbols may be determined based on a numerology. The PDCCH may be in a common search space (e.g., a Type1-PDCCH common search space) configured by an RRC message. The UE may identify the RAR based on a Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI). RNTIs may be used depending on one or more events initiating the random access procedure. The UE may use random access RNTI (RA-RNTI). The RA-RNTI may be associated with PRACH occasions in which the UE transmits a preamble. For example, the UE may determine the RA-RNTI based on: an OFDM symbol index; a slot index; a frequency domain index; and/or a UL carrier indicator of the PRACH occasions. An example of RA-RNTI may be as follows:

RA-RNTI=1+s_id+14×t_id+14×80×f_id+14×80×8×ul_carrier_id where s_id may be an index of a first OFDM symbol of the PRACH occasion (e.g., 0≤s_id<14), t_id may be an index of a first slot of the PRACH occasion in a system frame (e.g., 0≤t_id<80), f_id may be an index of the PRACH occasion in the frequency domain (e.g., 0≤f_id<8), and ul_carrier_id may be a UL carrier used for a preamble transmission (e.g., 0 for an NUL carrier, and 1 for an SUL carrier).

The UE may transmit the Msg 3 1313 in response to a successful reception of the Msg 2 1312 (e.g., using resources identified in the Msg 2 1312). The Msg 3 1313 may be used for contention resolution in, for example, the contention-based random access procedure illustrated in FIG. 13A. In some scenarios, a plurality of UEs may transmit a same preamble to a base station and the base station may provide an RAR that corresponds to a UE. Collisions may occur if the plurality of UEs interpret the RAR as corresponding to themselves. Contention resolution (e.g., using the Msg 3 1313 and the Msg 4 1314) may be used to increase the likelihood that the UE does not incorrectly use an identity of another the UE. To perform contention resolution, the UE may include a device identifier in the Msg 3 1313 (e.g., a C-RNTI if assigned, a TC-RNTI included in the Msg 2 1312, and/or any other suitable identifier).

The Msg 4 1314 may be received after or in response to the transmitting of the Msg 3 1313. If a C-RNTI was included in the Msg 3 1313, the base station will address the UE on the PDCCH using the C-RNTI. If the UE's unique C-RNTI is detected on the PDCCH, the random access procedure is determined to be successfully completed. If a TC-RNTI is included in the Msg 3 1313 (e.g., if the UE is in an RRC_IDLE state or not otherwise connected to the base station), Msg 4 1314 will be received using a DL-SCH associated with the TC-RNTI. If a MAC PDU is successfully decoded and a MAC PDU comprises the UE contention resolution identity MAC CE that matches or otherwise corresponds with the CCCH SDU sent (e.g., transmitted) in Msg 3 1313, the UE may determine that the contention resolution is successful and/or the UE may determine that the random access procedure is successfully completed.

The UE may be configured with a supplementary uplink (SUL) carrier and a normal uplink (NUL) carrier. An initial access (e.g., random access procedure) may be supported in an uplink carrier. For example, a base station may configure the UE with two separate RACH configurations: one for an SUL carrier and the other for an NUL carrier. For random access in a cell configured with an SUL carrier, the network may indicate which carrier to use (NUL or SUL). The UE may determine the SUL carrier, for example, if a measured quality of one or more reference signals is lower than a broadcast threshold. Uplink transmissions of the random access procedure (e.g., the Msg 1 1311 and/or the Msg 3 1313) may remain on the selected carrier. The UE may switch an uplink carrier during the random access procedure (e.g., between the Msg 1 1311 and the Msg 3 1313) in one or more cases. For example, the UE may determine and/or switch an uplink carrier for the Msg 1 1311 and/or the Msg 3 1313 based on a channel clear assessment (e.g., a listen-before-talk).

FIG. 13B illustrates a two-step contention-free random access procedure. Similar to the four-step contention-based random access procedure illustrated in FIG. 13A, a base station may, prior to initiation of the procedure, transmit a configuration message 1320 to the UE. The configuration message 1320 may be analogous in some respects to the configuration message 1310. The procedure illustrated in FIG. 13B comprises transmission of two messages: a Msg 1 1321 and a Msg 2 1322. The Msg 1 1321 and the Msg 2 1322 may be analogous in some respects to the Msg 1 1311 and a Msg 2 1312 illustrated in FIG. 13A, respectively. As will be understood from FIGS. 13A and 13B, the contention-free random access procedure may not include messages analogous to the Msg 3 1313 and/or the Msg 4 1314.

The contention-free random access procedure illustrated in FIG. 13B may be initiated for a beam failure recovery, other SI request, SCell addition, and/or handover. For example, a base station may indicate or assign to the UE the preamble to be used for the Msg 1 1321. The UE may receive, from the base station via PDCCH and/or RRC, an indication of a preamble (e.g., ra-PreambleIndex).

After transmitting a preamble, the UE may start a time window (e.g., ra-ResponseWindow) to monitor a PDCCH for the RAR. In the event of a beam failure recovery request, the base station may configure the UE with a separate time window and/or a separate PDCCH in a search space indicated by an RRC message (e.g., recoverySearchSpaceId). The UE may monitor for a PDCCH transmission addressed to a Cell RNTI (C-RNTI) on the search space. In the contention-free random access procedure illustrated in FIG. 13B, the UE may determine that a random access procedure successfully completes after or in response to transmission of Msg 1 1321 and reception of a corresponding Msg 2 1322. The UE may determine that a random access procedure successfully completes, for example, if a PDCCH transmission is addressed to a C-RNTI. The UE may determine that a random access procedure successfully completes, for example, if the UE receives an RAR comprising a preamble identifier corresponding to a preamble transmitted by the UE and/or the RAR comprises a MAC sub-PDU with the preamble identifier. The UE may determine the response as an indication of an acknowledgement for an SI request.

FIG. 13C illustrates another two-step random access procedure. Similar to the random access procedures illustrated in FIGS. 13A and 13B, a base station may, prior to initiation of the procedure, transmit a configuration message 1330 to the UE. The configuration message 1330 may be analogous in some respects to the configuration message 1310 and/or the configuration message 1320. The procedure illustrated in FIG. 13C comprises transmission of two messages: a Msg A 1331 and a Msg B 1332.

Msg A 1331 may be transmitted in an uplink transmission by the UE. Msg A 1331 may comprise one or more transmissions of a preamble 1341 and/or one or more transmissions of a transport block 1342. The transport block 1342 may comprise contents that are similar and/or equivalent to the contents of the Msg 3 1313 illustrated in FIG. 13A. The transport block 1342 may comprise UCI (e.g., an SR, a HARQ ACK/NACK, and/or the like). The UE may receive the Msg B 1332 after or in response to transmitting the Msg A 1331. The Msg B 1332 may comprise contents that are similar and/or equivalent to the contents of the Msg 2 1312 (e.g., an RAR) illustrated in FIGS. 13A and 13B and/or the Msg 4 1314 illustrated in FIG. 13A.

The UE may initiate the two-step random access procedure in FIG. 13C for licensed spectrum and/or unlicensed spectrum. The UE may determine, based on one or more factors, whether to initiate the two-step random access procedure. The one or more factors may be: a radio access technology in use (e.g., LTE, NR, and/or the like); whether the UE has valid TA or not; a cell size; the UE's RRC state; a type of spectrum (e.g., licensed vs. unlicensed); and/or any other suitable factors.

The UE may determine, based on two-step RACH parameters included in the configuration message 1330, a radio resource and/or an uplink transmit power for the preamble 1341 and/or the transport block 1342 included in the Msg A 1331. The RACH parameters may indicate a modulation and coding schemes (MCS), a time-frequency resource, and/or a power control for the preamble 1341 and/or the transport block 1342. A time-frequency resource for transmission of the preamble 1341 (e.g., a PRACH) and a time-frequency resource for transmission of the transport block 1342 (e.g., a PUSCH) may be multiplexed using FDM, TDM, and/or CDM. The RACH parameters may enable the UE to determine a reception timing and a downlink channel for monitoring for and/or receiving Msg B 1332.

The transport block 1342 may comprise data (e.g., delay-sensitive data), an identifier of the UE, security information, and/or device information (e.g., an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI)). The base station may transmit the Msg B 1332 as a response to the Msg A 1331. The Msg B 1332 may comprise at least one of following: a preamble identifier; a timing advance command; a power control command; an uplink grant (e.g., a radio resource assignment and/or an MCS); a UE identifier for contention resolution; and/or an RNTI (e.g., a C-RNTI or a TC-RNTI). The UE may determine that the two-step random access procedure is successfully completed if: a preamble identifier in the Msg B 1332 is matched to a preamble transmitted by the UE; and/or the identifier of the UE in Msg B 1332 is matched to the identifier of the UE in the Msg A 1331 (e.g., the transport block 1342).

8. Physical-Layer Control Signaling

A UE and a base station may exchange control signaling. The control signaling may be referred to as L1/L2 control signaling and may originate from the PHY layer (e.g., layer 1) and/or the MAC layer (e.g., layer 2). The control signaling may comprise downlink control signaling transmitted from the base station to the UE and/or uplink control signaling transmitted from the UE to the base station.

The downlink control signaling may comprise: a downlink scheduling assignment; an uplink scheduling grant indicating uplink radio resources and/or a transport format; a slot format information; a preemption indication; a power control command; and/or any other suitable signaling. The UE may receive the downlink control signaling in a payload transmitted by the base station on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). The payload transmitted on the PDCCH may be referred to as downlink control information (DCI). In some scenarios, the PDCCH may be a group common PDCCH (GC-PDCCH) that is common to a group of UEs.

A base station may attach one or more cyclic redundancy check (CRC) parity bits to a DCI in order to facilitate detection of transmission errors. When the DCI is intended for a UE (or a group of the UEs), the base station may scramble the CRC parity bits with an identifier of the UE (or an identifier of the group of the UEs). Scrambling the CRC parity bits with the identifier may comprise Modulo-2 addition (or an exclusive OR operation) of the identifier value and the CRC parity bits. The identifier may comprise a 16-bit value of a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI).

DCIs may be used for different purposes. A purpose may be indicated by the type of RNTI used to scramble the CRC parity bits. For example, a DCI having CRC parity bits scrambled with a paging RNTI (P-RNTI) may indicate paging information and/or a system information change notification. The P-RNTI may be predefined as “FFFE” in hexadecimal. A DCI having CRC parity bits scrambled with a system information RNTI (SI-RNTI) may indicate a broadcast transmission of the system information. The SI-RNTI may be predefined as “FFFF” in hexadecimal. A DCI having CRC parity bits scrambled with a random access RNTI (RA-RNTI) may indicate a random access response (RAR). A DCI having CRC parity bits scrambled with a cell RNTI (C-RNTI) may indicate a dynamically scheduled unicast transmission and/or a triggering of PDCCH-ordered random access. A DCI having CRC parity bits scrambled with a temporary cell RNTI (TC-RNTI) may indicate a contention resolution (e.g., a Msg 3 analogous to the Msg 3 1313 illustrated in FIG. 13A). Other RNTIs configured to the UE by a base station may comprise a Configured Scheduling RNTI (CS-RNTI), a Transmit Power Control-PUCCH RNTI (TPC-PUCCH-RNTI), a Transmit Power Control-PUSCH RNTI (TPC-PUSCH-RNTI), a Transmit Power Control-SRS RNTI (TPC-SRS-RNTI), an Interruption RNTI (INT-RNTI), a Slot Format Indication RNTI (SFI-RNTI), a Semi-Persistent CSI RNTI (SP-CSI-RNTI), a Modulation and Coding Scheme Cell RNTI (MCS-C-RNTI), and/or the like.

Depending on the purpose and/or content of a DCI, the base station may transmit the DCIs with one or more DCI formats. For example, DCI format 0_0 may be used for scheduling of PUSCH in a cell. DCI format 0_0 may be a fallback DCI format (e.g., with compact DCI payloads). DCI format 0_1 may be used for scheduling of PUSCH in a cell (e.g., with more DCI payloads than DCI format 0_0). DCI format 1_0 may be used for scheduling of PDSCH in a cell. DCI format 1_0 may be a fallback DCI format (e.g., with compact DCI payloads). DCI format 1_1 may be used for scheduling of PDSCH in a cell (e.g., with more DCI payloads than DCI format 1_0). DCI format 2_0 may be used for providing a slot format indication to a group of UEs. DCI format 2_1 may be used for notifying a group of UEs of a physical resource block and/or OFDM symbol where the UE may assume no transmission is intended to the UE. DCI format 2_2 may be used for transmission of a transmit power control (TPC) command for PUCCH or PUSCH. DCI format 2_3 may be used for transmission of a group of TPC commands for SRS transmissions by one or more UEs. DCI format(s) for new functions may be defined in future releases. DCI formats may have different DCI sizes, or may share the same DCI size.

After scrambling a DCI with a RNTI, the base station may process the DCI with channel coding (e.g., polar coding), rate matching, scrambling and/or QPSK modulation. A base station may map the coded and modulated DCI on resource elements used and/or configured for a PDCCH. Based on a payload size of the DCI and/or a coverage of the base station, the base station may transmit the DCI via a PDCCH occupying a number of contiguous control channel elements (CCEs). The number of the contiguous CCEs (referred to as aggregation level) may be 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and/or any other suitable number. A CCE may comprise a number (e.g., 6) of resource-element groups (REGs). A REG may comprise a resource block in an OFDM symbol. The mapping of the coded and modulated DCI on the resource elements may be based on mapping of CCEs and REGs (e.g., CCE-to-REG mapping).

FIG. 14A illustrates an example of CORESET configurations for a bandwidth part. The base station may transmit a DCI via a PDCCH on one or more control resource sets (CORESETs). A CORESET may comprise a time-frequency resource in which the UE tries to decode a DCI using one or more search spaces. The base station may configure a CORESET in the time-frequency domain. In the example of FIG. 14A, a first CORESET 1401 and a second CORESET 1402 occur at the first symbol in a slot. The first CORESET 1401 overlaps with the second CORESET 1402 in the frequency domain. A third CORESET 1403 occurs at a third symbol in the slot. A fourth CORESET 1404 occurs at the seventh symbol in the slot. CORESETs may have a different number of resource blocks in frequency domain.

FIG. 14B illustrates an example of a CCE-to-REG mapping for DCI transmission on a CORESET and PDCCH processing. The CCE-to-REG mapping may be an interleaved mapping (e.g., for the purpose of providing frequency diversity) or a non-interleaved mapping (e.g., for the purposes of facilitating interference coordination and/or frequency-selective transmission of control channels). The base station may perform different or same CCE-to-REG mapping on different CORESETs. A CORESET may be associated with a CCE-to-REG mapping by RRC configuration. A CORESET may be configured with an antenna port quasi co-location (QCL) parameter. The antenna port QCL parameter may indicate QCL information of a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) for PDCCH reception in the CORESET.

The base station may transmit, to the UE, RRC messages comprising configuration parameters of one or more CORESETs and one or more search space sets. The configuration parameters may indicate an association between a search space set and a CORESET. A search space set may comprise a set of PDCCH candidates formed by CCEs at a given aggregation level. The configuration parameters may indicate: a number of PDCCH candidates to be monitored per aggregation level; a PDCCH monitoring periodicity and a PDCCH monitoring pattern; one or more DCI formats to be monitored by the UE; and/or whether a search space set is a common search space set or a UE-specific search space set. A set of CCEs in the common search space set may be predefined and known to the UE. A set of CCEs in the UE-specific search space set may be configured based on the UE's identity (e.g., C-RNTI).

As shown in FIG. 14B, the UE may determine a time-frequency resource for a CORESET based on RRC messages. The UE may determine a CCE-to-REG mapping (e.g., interleaved or non-interleaved, and/or mapping parameters) for the CORESET based on configuration parameters of the CORESET. The UE may determine a number (e.g., at most 10) of search space sets configured on the CORESET based on the RRC messages. The UE may monitor a set of PDCCH candidates according to configuration parameters of a search space set. The UE may monitor a set of PDCCH candidates in one or more CORESETs for detecting one or more DCIs. Monitoring may comprise decoding one or more PDCCH candidates of the set of the PDCCH candidates according to the monitored DCI formats. Monitoring may comprise decoding a DCI content of one or more PDCCH candidates with possible (or configured) PDCCH locations, possible (or configured) PDCCH formats (e.g., number of CCEs, number of PDCCH candidates in common search spaces, and/or number of PDCCH candidates in the UE-specific search spaces) and possible (or configured) DCI formats. The decoding may be referred to as blind decoding. The UE may determine a DCI as valid for the UE, in response to CRC checking (e.g., scrambled bits for CRC parity bits of the DCI matching a RNTI value). The UE may process information contained in the DCI (e.g., a scheduling assignment, an uplink grant, power control, a slot format indication, a downlink preemption, and/or the like).

The UE may transmit uplink control signaling (e.g., uplink control information (UCI)) to a base station. The uplink control signaling may comprise hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgements for received DL-SCH transport blocks. The UE may transmit the HARQ acknowledgements after receiving a DL-SCH transport block. Uplink control signaling may comprise channel state information (CSI) indicating channel quality of a physical downlink channel. The UE may transmit the CSI to the base station. The base station, based on the received CSI, may determine transmission format parameters (e.g., comprising multi-antenna and beamforming schemes) for a downlink transmission. Uplink control signaling may comprise scheduling requests (SR). The UE may transmit an SR indicating that uplink data is available for transmission to the base station. The UE may transmit a UCI (e.g., HARQ acknowledgements (HARQ-ACK), CSI report, SR, and the like) via a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). The UE may transmit the uplink control signaling via a PUCCH using one of several PUCCH formats.

There may be five PUCCH formats and the UE may determine a PUCCH format based on a size of the UCI (e.g., a number of uplink symbols of UCI transmission and a number of UCI bits). PUCCH format 0 may have a length of one or two OFDM symbols and may include two or fewer bits. The UE may transmit UCI in a PUCCH resource using PUCCH format 0 if the transmission is over one or two symbols and the number of HARQ-ACK information bits with positive or negative SR (HARQ-ACK/SR bits) is one or two. PUCCH format 1 may occupy a number between four and fourteen OFDM symbols and may include two or fewer bits. The UE may use PUCCH format 1 if the transmission is four or more symbols and the number of HARQ-ACK/SR bits is one or two. PUCCH format 2 may occupy one or two OFDM symbols and may include more than two bits. The UE may use PUCCH format 2 if the transmission is over one or two symbols and the number of UCI bits is two or more. PUCCH format 3 may occupy a number between four and fourteen OFDM symbols and may include more than two bits. The UE may use PUCCH format 3 if the transmission is four or more symbols, the number of UCI bits is two or more and PUCCH resource does not include an orthogonal cover code. PUCCH format 4 may occupy a number between four and fourteen OFDM symbols and may include more than two bits. The UE may use PUCCH format 4 if the transmission is four or more symbols, the number of UCI bits is two or more and the PUCCH resource includes an orthogonal cover code.

The base station may transmit configuration parameters to the UE for a plurality of PUCCH resource sets using, for example, an RRC message. The plurality of PUCCH resource sets (e.g., up to four sets) may be configured on an uplink BWP of a cell. A PUCCH resource set may be configured with a PUCCH resource set index, a plurality of PUCCH resources with a PUCCH resource being identified by a PUCCH resource identifier (e.g., pucch-Resourceid), and/or a number (e.g. a maximum number) of UCI information bits the UE may transmit using one of the plurality of PUCCH resources in the PUCCH resource set. When configured with a plurality of PUCCH resource sets, the UE may select one of the plurality of PUCCH resource sets based on a total bit length of the UCI information bits (e.g., HARQ-ACK, SR, and/or CSI). If the total bit length of UCI information bits is two or fewer, the UE may select a first PUCCH resource set having a PUCCH resource set index equal to “0”. If the total bit length of UCI information bits is greater than two and less than or equal to a first configured value, the UE may select a second PUCCH resource set having a PUCCH resource set index equal to “1”. If the total bit length of UCI information bits is greater than the first configured value and less than or equal to a second configured value, the UE may select a third PUCCH resource set having a PUCCH resource set index equal to “2”. If the total bit length of UCI information bits is greater than the second configured value and less than or equal to a third value (e.g., 1406), the UE may select a fourth PUCCH resource set having a PUCCH resource set index equal to “3”.

After determining a PUCCH resource set from a plurality of PUCCH resource sets, the UE may determine a PUCCH resource from the PUCCH resource set for UCI (HARQ-ACK, CSI, and/or SR) transmission. The UE may determine the PUCCH resource based on a PUCCH resource indicator in a DCI (e.g., with a DCI format 1_0 or DCI for 1_1) received on a PDCCH. A three-bit PUCCH resource indicator in the DCI may indicate one of eight PUCCH resources in the PUCCH resource set. Based on the PUCCH resource indicator, the UE may transmit the UCI (HARQ-ACK, CSI and/or SR) using a PUCCH resource indicated by the PUCCH resource indicator in the DCI.

9. Base Station and UE Implementation

FIG. 15 illustrates an example of a wireless device 1502 in communication with a base station 1504 in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. The wireless device 1502 and base station 1504 may be part of a mobile communication network, such as the mobile communication network 100 illustrated in FIG. 1A, the mobile communication network 150 illustrated in FIG. 1B, or any other communication network. Only one wireless device 1502 and one base station 1504 are illustrated in FIG. 15 , but it will be understood that a mobile communication network may include more than one UE and/or more than one base station, with the same or similar configuration as those shown in FIG. 15 .

The base station 1504 may connect the wireless device 1502 to a core network (not shown) through radio communications over the air interface (or radio interface) 1506. The communication direction from the base station 1504 to the wireless device 1502 over the air interface 1506 is known as the downlink, and the communication direction from the wireless device 1502 to the base station 1504 over the air interface is known as the uplink. Downlink transmissions may be separated from uplink transmissions using FDD, TDD, and/or some combination of the two duplexing techniques.

In the downlink, data to be sent to the wireless device 1502 from the base station 1504 may be provided to the processing system 1508 of the base station 1504. The data may be provided to the processing system 1508 by, for example, a core network. In the uplink, data to be sent to the base station 1504 from the wireless device 1502 may be provided to the processing system 1518 of the wireless device 1502. The processing system 1508 and the processing system 1518 may implement layer 3 and layer 2 OSI functionality to process the data for transmission. Layer 2 may include an SDAP layer, a PDCP layer, an RLC layer, and a MAC layer, for example, with respect to FIG. 2A, FIG. 2B, FIG. 3 , and FIG. 4A. Layer 3 may include an RRC layer as with respect to FIG. 2B.

After being processed by processing system 1508, the data to be sent to the wireless device 1502 may be provided to a transmission processing system 1510 of base station 1504. Similarly, after being processed by the processing system 1518, the data to be sent to base station 1504 may be provided to a transmission processing system 1520 of the wireless device 1502. The transmission processing system 1510 and the transmission processing system 1520 may implement layer 1 OSI functionality. Layer 1 may include a PHY layer with respect to FIG. 2A, FIG. 2B, FIG. 3 , and FIG. 4A. For transmit processing, the PHY layer may perform, for example, forward error correction coding of transport channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping of transport channels to physical channels, modulation of physical channel, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) or multi-antenna processing, and/or the like.

At the base station 1504, a reception processing system 1512 may receive the uplink transmission from the wireless device 1502. At the wireless device 1502, a reception processing system 1522 may receive the downlink transmission from base station 1504. The reception processing system 1512 and the reception processing system 1522 may implement layer 1 OSI functionality. Layer 1 may include a PHY layer with respect to FIG. 2A, FIG. 2B, FIG. 3 , and FIG. 4A. For receive processing, the PHY layer may perform, for example, error detection, forward error correction decoding, deinterleaving, demapping of transport channels to physical channels, demodulation of physical channels, MIMO or multi-antenna processing, and/or the like.

As shown in FIG. 15 , a wireless device 1502 and the base station 1504 may include multiple antennas. The multiple antennas may be used to perform one or more MIMO or multi-antenna techniques, such as spatial multiplexing (e.g., single-user MIMO or multi-user MIMO), transmit/receive diversity, and/or beamforming. In other examples, the wireless device 1502 and/or the base station 1504 may have a single antenna.

The processing system 1508 and the processing system 1518 may be associated with a memory 1514 and a memory 1524, respectively. Memory 1514 and memory 1524 (e.g., one or more non-transitory computer readable mediums) may store computer program instructions or code that may be executed by the processing system 1508 and/or the processing system 1518 to carry out one or more of the functionalities discussed in the present application. Although not shown in FIG. 15 , the transmission processing system 1510, the transmission processing system 1520, the reception processing system 1512, and/or the reception processing system 1522 may be coupled to a memory (e.g., one or more non-transitory computer readable mediums) storing computer program instructions or code that may be executed to carry out one or more of their respective functionalities.

The processing system 1508 and/or the processing system 1518 may comprise one or more controllers and/or one or more processors. The one or more controllers and/or one or more processors may comprise, for example, a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) and/or other programmable logic device, discrete gate and/or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, an on-board unit, or any combination thereof. The processing system 1508 and/or the processing system 1518 may perform at least one of signal coding/processing, data processing, power control, input/output processing, and/or any other functionality that may enable the wireless device 1502 and the base station 1504 to operate in a wireless environment.

The processing system 1508 and/or the processing system 1518 may be connected to one or more peripherals 1516 and one or more peripherals 1526, respectively. The one or more peripherals 1516 and the one or more peripherals 1526 may include software and/or hardware that provide features and/or functionalities, for example, a speaker, a microphone, a keypad, a display, a touchpad, a power source, a satellite transceiver, a universal serial bus (USB) port, a hands-free headset, a frequency modulated (FM) radio unit, a media player, an Internet browser, an electronic control unit (e.g., for a motor vehicle), and/or one or more sensors (e.g., an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a temperature sensor, a radar sensor, a lidar sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, a light sensor, a camera, and/or the like). The processing system 1508 and/or the processing system 1518 may receive user input data from and/or provide user output data to the one or more peripherals 1516 and/or the one or more peripherals 1526. The processing system 1518 in the wireless device 1502 may receive power from a power source and/or may be configured to distribute the power to the other components in the wireless device 1502. The power source may comprise one or more sources of power, for example, a battery, a solar cell, a fuel cell, or any combination thereof. The processing system 1508 and/or the processing system 1518 may be connected to a GPS chipset 1517 and a GPS chipset 1527, respectively. The GPS chipset 1517 and the GPS chipset 1527 may be configured to provide geographic location information of the wireless device 1502 and the base station 1504, respectively.

FIG. 16A illustrates an example structure for uplink transmission. A baseband signal representing a physical uplink shared channel may perform one or more functions. The one or more functions may comprise at least one of: scrambling; modulation of scrambled bits to generate complex-valued symbols; mapping of the complex-valued modulation symbols onto one or several transmission layers; transform precoding to generate complex-valued symbols; precoding of the complex-valued symbols; mapping of precoded complex-valued symbols to resource elements; generation of complex-valued time-domain Single Carrier-Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) or CP-OFDM signal for an antenna port; and/or the like. In an example, when transform precoding is enabled, a SC-FDMA signal for uplink transmission may be generated. In an example, when transform precoding is not enabled, an CP-OFDM signal for uplink transmission may be generated by FIG. 16A. These functions are illustrated as examples and it is anticipated that other mechanisms may be implemented in various embodiments.

FIG. 16B illustrates an example structure for modulation and up-conversion of a baseband signal to a carrier frequency. The baseband signal may be a complex-valued SC-FDMA or CP-OFDM baseband signal for an antenna port and/or a complex-valued Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) baseband signal. Filtering may be employed prior to transmission.

FIG. 16C illustrates an example structure for downlink transmissions. A baseband signal representing a physical downlink channel may perform one or more functions. The one or more functions may comprise: scrambling of coded bits in a codeword to be transmitted on a physical channel; modulation of scrambled bits to generate complex-valued modulation symbols; mapping of the complex-valued modulation symbols onto one or several transmission layers; precoding of the complex-valued modulation symbols on a layer for transmission on the antenna ports; mapping of complex-valued modulation symbols for an antenna port to resource elements; generation of complex-valued time-domain OFDM signal for an antenna port; and/or the like. These functions are illustrated as examples and it is anticipated that other mechanisms may be implemented in various embodiments.

FIG. 16D illustrates another example structure for modulation and up-conversion of a baseband signal to a carrier frequency. The baseband signal may be a complex-valued OFDM baseband signal for an antenna port. Filtering may be employed prior to transmission.

A wireless device may receive from a base station one or more messages (e.g. RRC messages) comprising configuration parameters of a plurality of cells (e.g. primary cell, secondary cell). The wireless device may communicate with at least one base station (e.g. two or more base stations in dual-connectivity) via the plurality of cells. The one or more messages (e.g. as a part of the configuration parameters) may comprise parameters of physical, MAC, RLC, PCDP, SDAP, RRC layers for configuring the wireless device. For example, the configuration parameters may comprise parameters for configuring physical and MAC layer channels, bearers, etc. For example, the configuration parameters may comprise parameters indicating values of timers for physical, MAC, RLC, PCDP, SDAP, RRC layers, and/or communication channels.

A timer may begin running once it is started and continue running until it is stopped or until it expires. A timer may be started if it is not running or restarted if it is running. A timer may be associated with a value (e.g. the timer may be started or restarted from a value or may be started from zero and expire once it reaches the value). The duration of a timer may not be updated until the timer is stopped or expires (e.g., due to BWP switching). A timer may be used to measure a time period/window for a process. When the specification refers to an implementation and procedure related to one or more timers, it will be understood that there are multiple ways to implement the one or more timers. For example, it will be understood that one or more of the multiple ways to implement a timer may be used to measure a time period/window for the procedure. For example, a random access response window timer may be used for measuring a window of time for receiving a random access response. In an example, instead of starting and expiry of a random access response window timer, the time difference between two time stamps may be used. When a timer is restarted, a process for measurement of time window may be restarted. Other example implementations may be provided to restart a measurement of a time window.

A base station may transmit one or more MAC PDUs to a wireless device. In an example, a MAC PDU may be a bit string that is byte aligned (e.g., aligned to a multiple of eight bits) in length. In an example, bit strings may be represented by tables in which the most significant bit is the leftmost bit of the first line of the table, and the least significant bit is the rightmost bit on the last line of the table. More generally, the bit string may be read from left to right and then in the reading order of the lines. In an example, the bit order of a parameter field within a MAC PDU is represented with the first and most significant bit in the leftmost bit and the last and least significant bit in the rightmost bit.

In an example, a MAC SDU may be a bit string that is byte aligned (e.g., aligned to a multiple of eight bits) in length. In an example, a MAC SDU may be included in a MAC PDU from the first bit onward. A MAC CE may be a bit string that is byte aligned (e.g., aligned to a multiple of eight bits) in length. A MAC subheader may be a bit string that is byte aligned (e.g., aligned to a multiple of eight bits) in length. In an example, a MAC subheader may be placed immediately in front of a corresponding MAC SDU, MAC CE, or padding. A MAC entity may ignore a value of reserved bits in a DL MAC PDU.

In an example, a MAC PDU may comprise one or more MAC subPDUs. A MAC subPDU of the one or more MAC subPDUs may comprise: a MAC subheader only (including padding); a MAC subheader and a MAC SDU; a MAC subheader and a MAC CE; a MAC subheader and padding, or a combination thereof. The MAC SDU may be of variable size. A MAC subheader may correspond to a MAC SDU, a MAC CE, or padding.

In an example, when a MAC subheader corresponds to a MAC SDU, a variable-sized MAC CE, or padding, the MAC subheader may comprise: a Reserve field (R field) with a one bit length; an Format filed (F field) with a one-bit length; a Logical Channel Identifier (LCID) field with a multi-bit length; a Length field (L field) with a multi-bit length, indicating the length of the corresponding MAC SDU or variable-size MAC CE in bytes, or a combination thereof. In an example, F field may indicate the size of the L field.

In an example, a MAC entity of a base station may transmit one or more MAC CEs to a MAC entity of a wireless device. The one or more MAC CEs may comprise at least one of: a SP ZP CSI-RS Resource Set Activation/Deactivation MAC CE, a PUCCH spatial relation Activation/Deactivation MAC CE, a SP SRS Activation/Deactivation MAC CE, a SP CSI reporting on PUCCH Activation/Deactivation MAC CE, a TCI State Indication for UE-specific PDCCH MAC CE, a TCI State Indication for UE-specific PDSCH MAC CE, an Aperiodic CSI Trigger State Subselection MAC CE, a SP CSI-RS/CSI-IM Resource Set Activation/Deactivation MAC CE, a UE contention resolution identity MAC CE, a timing advance command MAC CE, a DRX command MAC CE, a Long DRX command MAC CE, an SCell activation/deactivation MAC CE (1 Octet), an SCell activation/deactivation MAC CE (4 Octet), and/or a duplication activation/deactivation MAC CE. In an example, a MAC CE, such as a MAC CE transmitted by a MAC entity of a base station to a MAC entity of a wireless device, may have an LCID in the MAC subheader corresponding to the MAC CE. Different MAC CE may have different LCID in the MAC subheader corresponding to the MAC CE. For example, an LCID given by 111011 in a MAC subheader may indicate that a MAC CE associated with the MAC subheader is a long DRX command MAC CE.

In an example, the MAC entity of the wireless device may transmit to the MAC entity of the base station one or more MAC CEs. The one or more MAC CEs may comprise at least one of: a short buffer status report (BSR) MAC CE, a long BSR MAC CE, a C-RNTI MAC CE, a configured grant confirmation MAC CE, a single entry PHR MAC CE, a multiple entry PHR MAC CE, a short truncated BSR, and/or a long truncated BSR. In an example, a MAC CE may have an LCID in the MAC subheader corresponding to the MAC CE. Different MAC CE may have different LCID in the MAC subheader corresponding to the MAC CE. For example, an LCID given by 111011 in a MAC subheader may indicate that a MAC CE associated with the MAC subheader is a short-truncated command MAC CE.

In carrier aggregation (CA), two or more component carriers (CCs) may be aggregated. A wireless device may simultaneously receive or transmit on one or more CCs, depending on capabilities of the wireless device, using the technique of CA. In an example, a wireless device may support CA for contiguous CCs and/or for non-contiguous CCs. CCs may be organized into cells. For example, CCs may be organized into one primary cell (PCell) and one or more secondary cells (SCells). When configured with CA, a wireless device may have one RRC connection with a network. During an RRC connection establishment/re-establishment/handover, a cell providing NAS mobility information may be a serving cell. During an RRC connection re-establishment/handover procedure, a cell providing a security input may be a serving cell. In an example, the serving cell may denote a PCell. In an example, a base station may transmit, to a wireless device, one or more messages comprising configuration parameters of a plurality of one or more SCells, depending on capabilities of the wireless device.

When configured with CA, a base station and/or a wireless device may employ an activation/deactivation mechanism of an SCell to improve battery or power consumption of the wireless device. When a wireless device is configured with one or more SCells, a base station may activate or deactivate at least one of the one or more SCells. Upon configuration of an SCell, the SCell may be deactivated unless an SCell state associated with the SCell is set to “activated” or “dormant.” A wireless device may activate/deactivate an SCell in response to receiving an SCell Activation/Deactivation MAC CE.

A base station may configure a wireless device with uplink (UL) bandwidth parts (BWPs) and downlink (DL) BWPs to enable bandwidth adaptation (BA) on a PCell. If carrier aggregation is configured, the base station may further configure the wireless device with at least DL BWP(s) (i.e., there may be no UL BWPs in the UL) to enable BA on an SCell. For the PCell, an initial active BWP may be a first BWP used for initial access. In paired spectrum (e.g., FDD), a base station and/or a wireless device may independently switch a DL BWP and an UL BWP. In unpaired spectrum (e.g., TDD), a base station and/or a wireless device may simultaneously switch a DL BWP and an UL BWP.

In an example, a base station and/or a wireless device may switch a BWP between configured BWPs by means of a DCI or a BWP invalidity timer. When the BWP invalidity timer is configured for a serving cell, the base station and/or the wireless device may switch an active BWP to a default BWP in response to an expiry of the BWP invalidity timer associated with the serving cell. The default BWP may be configured by the network. In an example, for FDD systems, when configured with BA, one UL BWP for each uplink carrier and one DL BWP may be active at a time in an active serving cell. In an example, for TDD systems, one DL/UL BWP pair may be active at a time in an active serving cell. Operating on the one UL BWP and the one DL BWP (or the one DL/UL pair) may improve wireless device battery consumption. BWPs other than the one active UL BWP and the one active DL BWP that the wireless device may work on may be deactivated. On deactivated BWPs, the wireless device may: not monitor PDCCH; and/or not transmit on PUCCH, PRACH, and UL-SCH. In an example, a MAC entity may apply normal operations on an active BWP for an activated serving cell configured with a BWP comprising: transmitting on UL-SCH; transmitting on RACH; monitoring a PDCCH; transmitting PUCCH; receiving DL-SCH; and/or (re-)initializing any suspended configured uplink grants of configured grant Type 1 according to a stored configuration, if any. In an example, on an inactive BWP for each activated serving cell configured with a BWP, a MAC entity may: not transmit on UL-SCH; not transmit on RACH; not monitor a PDCCH; not transmit PUCCH; not transmit SRS, not receive DL-SCH; clear any configured downlink assignment and configured uplink grant of configured grant Type 2; and/or suspend any configured uplink grant of configured Type 1.

In an example, a set of PDCCH candidates for a wireless device to monitor is defined in terms of PDCCH search space sets. A search space set comprises a CSS set or a USS set. A wireless device monitors PDCCH candidates in one or more of the following search spaces sets: a Type0-PDCCH CSS set configured by pdcch-ConfigSIB1 in MIB or by searchSpaceSIB1 in PDCCH-ConfigCommon or by searchSpaceZero in PDCCH-ConfigCommon for a DCI format with CRC scrambled by a SI-RNTI on the primary cell of the MCG, a Type0A-PDCCH CSS set configured by searchSpaceOtherSystemInformation in PDCCH-ConfigCommon for a DCI format with CRC scrambled by a SI-RNTI on the primary cell of the MCG, a Type1-PDCCH CSS set configured by ra-SearchSpace in PDCCH-ConfigCommon for a DCI format with CRC scrambled by a RA-RNTI, a MSGB-RNTI, or a TC-RNTI on the primary cell, a Type2-PDCCH CSS set configured by pagingSearchSpace in PDCCH-ConfigCommon for a DCI format with CRC scrambled by a P-RNTI on the primary cell of the MCG, a Type3-PDCCH CSS set configured by SearchSpace in PDCCH-Config with searchSpaceType=common for DCI formats with CRC scrambled by INT-RNTI, SFI-RNTI, TPC-PUSCH-RNTI, TPC-PUCCH-RNTI, TPC-SRS-RNTI, CI-RNTI, or PS-RNTI and, only for the primary cell, C-RNTI, MCS-C-RNTI, or CS-RNTI(s), and a USS set configured by SearchSpace in PDCCH-Config with searchSpaceType=ue-Specific for DCI formats with CRC scrambled by C-RNTI, MCS-C-RNTI, SP-CSI-RNTI, CS-RNTI(s), SL-RNTI, SL-CS-RNTI, or SL-L-CS-RNTI.

In an example, a wireless device may monitor a set of PDCCH candidates according to configuration parameters of a search space set comprising a plurality of search spaces (SSs). The wireless device may monitor a set of PDCCH candidates in one or more CORESETs for detecting one or more DCIs. Monitoring may comprise decoding one or more PDCCH candidates of the set of the PDCCH candidates according to the monitored DCI formats. Monitoring may comprise decoding a DCI content of one or more PDCCH candidates with possible (or configured) PDCCH locations, possible (or configured) PDCCH formats (e.g., number of CCEs, number of PDCCH candidates in common SSs, and/or number of PDCCH candidates in the UE-specific SSs) and possible (or configured) DCI formats. The decoding may be referred to as blind decoding.

In an example, several DCI formats may be used by a base station to transmit control information to a wireless device or used by the wireless device for PDCCH monitoring. Different DCI formats may comprise different DCI fields and/or have different DCI payload sizes. Different DCI formats may have different signaling purposes. In an example, DCI format 0_0 may be used to schedule PUSCH in one cell. DCI format 0_1 may be used to schedule one or multiple PUSCH in one cell or indicate CG-DFI (configured grant-Downlink Feedback Information) for configured grant PUSCH, etc.

In an example, a plurality of slot format combinations of a cell (e.g., slot format combination 0, slot format combination 1, slot format combination 2, slot format combination 3, . . . , and slot format combination m) may be configured to a wireless device via RRC messages. In an example, a slot format combination may be indicated to a wireless device via downlink control channel. In an example, the slot format combination may be indicated to the wireless device via a PDCCH. In an example, the slot format combination may be indicated to the wireless device via a group common PDCCH (GC-PDCCH). In an example, a slot format may be identified by a corresponding format index. In an example, each symbol in the slot may be a downlink (‘D’) symbol and/or an uplink (‘U’) symbol and/or a flexible (‘F’) symbol. For example, slot format 0 comprises of all downlink (‘D’) symbols. For example, slot format 1 comprises of all uplink (‘U’) symbols. For example, slot format 55 comprises of two downlink (‘D’) symbols, followed by three flexible (‘F’) symbols, followed by three uplink (‘U’) symbols, followed by six downlink (‘D’) symbols. In NR, each of symbols in a slot may be: Uplink (‘U’/UL), wherein uplink transmission is allowed; Downlink (‘D’/DL), wherein downlink reception is allowed; and Flexible (‘F’), wherein the slot format/direction is determined by other signaling, e.g., DCI format 2_0 and/or UL/DL grants. The format ‘F’ is used by the network to control UL/DL transmission of each wireless device flexibly. For example, the network may assign a symbol with ‘F’ for a wireless device not to transmit to or receive from a base station for interference control and/or power saving. For example, the network may use a slot format ‘F’ on one or more symbols to selectively initiate/trigger random access (RA) for a particular wireless device. Other wireless devices may not be allowed to transmit or receive on the one or more symbols, resulting in reduced interference for the wireless device.

A wireless device may be configured by higher layers with a parameter indicating one or more slot formats (e.g., SlotFormatIndicator). In an example, a DCI format (e.g., DCI format 2_0) may be used for notifying the one or more slot formats. An SFI-index field value in the DCI format 2_0 may indicate to a wireless device a slot format for each of one or more slots in a number of slots for each DL BWP and/or each UL BWP starting from a slot where the wireless device detects the DCI format. The DCI format may comprise CRC bits scrambled by a first radio network temporary identifier (e.g., SFI-RNTI). The DCI format may comprise at least one information of one or more slot format indicators (SFIs). The wireless device may be configured to monitor a group-common-PDCCH for the one or more slot format indicators for each one of one or more serving cells configured by the parameters indicating the one or more slot formats. For each serving cell, the wireless device may be provided at least one of: an identity of the serving cell; a location of an SFI-index field in the DCI format; and/or a set of slot format combinations comprising one or more slot format combinations (e.g., slotFormatCombinations), where each of the one or more slot format combinations may comprise: one or more slot formats (e.g., slotFormats) for the slot format combination; a mapping for the slot format to a corresponding SFI-index field value in the DCI format (e.g., slotFormatCombinationId); and/or at least one reference SCS configuration.

In an example, for each serving cell, a wireless device may receive a common RRC configuration message (e.g., TDD-UL-DL-ConfigCommon) comprising one or more parameters that indicate to the wireless device to set the slot format of each slot of a number of one or more consecutive slots. For example, the common RRC configuration message may comprise at least one of: a reference subcarrier spacing (SCS) μ_(ref); and/or at least one pattern. A first pattern of the at least one pattern may comprise at least one of: a slot configuration period of P msec; a number of slots d_(slots) with only downlink symbols; a number of downlink symbols d_(sym); a number of slots u_(slots) with only uplink symbols; a number of uplink symbols u_(sym). The slot configuration period of P msec may comprise S=P·2^(μ) ^(ref) slots with SCS configuration μ_(ref). From the S slots, a first d_(slots) slots may comprise one or more downlink symbols and a last u_(slots) slots may comprise one or more uplink symbols. A d_(sym) symbols after the first d_(slots) slots may comprise one or more downlink symbols. A u_(sym) symbols before the last u_(slots) slots may comprise one or more uplink symbols. A remaining (S−d_(slots)−u_(slots)). N_(symb) ^(slot)−d_(sym)−u_(sym) symbols may comprise one or more flexible symbols. A second pattern of the at least one or more patterns may be configured. The wireless device may set the slot format of each slot of a first number of slots as indicated by the first pattern and may set the slot format of each slot of a second number of slots as indicated by the second pattern.

In an example, a wireless device may receive a dedicated RRC configuration message (e.g., TDD-UL-DL-Configdedicated) comprising one or more parameters that may overwrite one or more flexible symbols of each slot of a number of slots configured by a common RRC configuration message (e.g., TDD-UL-DL-ConfigCommon). For example, the dedicated RRC configuration message may comprise at least one of: one or more slot configurations; and/or for each slot configuration of the one or more slot configurations: a slot index for a slot (e.g., slotIndex); one or more symbols of a slot (e.g., symbols) which indicates a first number of zero or more downlink first symbols in the slot, and a second number of zero or more uplink last symbols in the slot, and a remaining number of zero or more flexible symbols in the slot. The wireless device may determine a slot format for each slot with a corresponding slot index of the slot with index slotIndex based on a format indicated by the one or more symbols of the slot (symbols). In an example, for each slot configuration of one or more slot configurations indicated by the dedicated RRC configuration message, a reference SCS is the reference SCS indicated by the common RRC configuration message. A slot configuration period and a number of downlink/uplink/flexible symbols in each slot of the one or more slot configuration period may be determined from the common/dedicated RRC configuration messages and may be common to each one of one or more configured BWPs.

A slot format determination procedure may be defined for the wireless device. The wireless device may determine a slot format of one or more symbols based on a priority between a first slot format indicated by higher layer parameters (e.g., TDD-UL-DL-ConfigCommon and/or TDD-UL-DL-ConfigDedicated) and a second slot format indicated by a DCI (e.g., DCI format 2_0), if detected. Whether the UL/DL grant is configured by higher layer or dynamically indicated by DCI, may be used by the wireless device to determine the slot format.

In an example, the wireless device may not receive the one or more RRC configuration messages (e.g., a common RRC configuration message and/or a dedicated RRC configuration message) indicating a slot format configuration. The wireless device may receive a DCI format (e.g., DCI format 1_0, DCI format 1_1, DCI format 0_1, DCI format 0_0, and/or DCI format 2_3), scheduling downlink/uplink transmissions. In an example, a DCI format (e.g., DCI format 1_0, DCI format 1_1, and/or DCI format 0_1) or an RRC message (e.g., SIB1) may indicate to the wireless device a reception of one or more downlink channels/signals e.g., PDSCH, PDCCH, SSB, downlink positioning reference signal (DL PRS) and/or CSI-RS in one or more symbols of a slot.

The wireless device may receive the one or more downlink channels/signals in the one or more symbols of the slot. In an example, the wireless device may receive a DCI format (e.g., DCI format 1_0, DCI format 1_1, DCI format 0_0, DCI format 2_3, and/or DCI format 0_1) indicating a transmission of one or more uplink channels/signals (e.g., PUSCH, PUCCH, PRACH, and/or SRS) in one or more symbols of a slot. The wireless device may transmit the one or more uplink channels/signals in the one or more symbols of the slot. In an example, the wireless device may receive an RAR message 1312/1322/1332 (e.g., in response to and/or after transmitting Msg1 1311/1321 or MsgA 1331) indicating an UL grant for transmission of one or more uplink channels/signals (e.g., PUSCH) in one or more symbols of a slot. The wireless device may transmit the one or more uplink channels/signals in the one or more symbols of the slot. In another example, the wireless device may receive a fallbackRAR message 1332 (e.g., in response to and/or after transmitting MsgA 1331) indicating an UL grant for transmission of one or more uplink channels/signals (e.g., PUSCH) in one or more symbols of a slot. The wireless device may transmit the one or more uplink channels/signals in the one or more symbols of the slot. In another example, the wireless device may receive a successRAR message 1332 (e.g., in response to and/or after transmitting MsgA 1331) indicating the transmission of one or more uplink channels/signals (e.g., PUCCH) in one or more symbols of a slot. The wireless device may transmit the one or more uplink channels/signals in the one or more symbols of the slot.

In an example, a wireless device may be configured by higher layers (e.g., the MAC layer) to receive a downlink channel/signal (e.g., PDCCH, a PDSCH, a DL PRS, and/or a CSI-RS) in one or more symbols of a slot. The wireless device may receive the PDCCH, PDSCH, DL PRS, and/or CSI-RS, for example, if the wireless device does not detect a DCI format (e.g., DCI format 0_0, DCI format 0_1, DCI format 1_0, DCI format 1_1, and/or DCI format 2_3) indicating to the wireless device to transmit an uplink channel/signal (e.g., PUSCH, a PUCCH, a PRACH, and/or a SRS) in at least one symbol of the one or more symbols of the slot. The wireless device may not receive the downlink channel/signal, for example, if the wireless device detects a DCI format (e.g., DCI format 0_0, DCI format 0_1, DCI format 1_0, DCI format 1_1, and/or DCI format 2_3) indicating to the wireless device to transmit the uplink channel/signal in the at least one symbol of the one or more symbols of the slot.

In an example, for one or more symbols of a slot, a wireless device may not expect to detect a first DCI format (e.g., DCI format 2_0) with an SFI-index field value indicating the one or more symbols of the slot as uplink and to detect a second DCI format (e.g., DCI format 1_0, a DCI format 1_1, or DCI format 0_1) indicating to the wireless device to receive PDSCH or CSI-RS in the one or more symbols of the slot. In another example, for one or more symbols of a slot, the wireless device may not expect to detect the first DCI format with an SFI-index field value indicating the one or more symbols in the slot as downlink and to detect a third DCI format (e.g., DCI format 0_0, DCI format 0_1, DCI format 1_0, DCI format 1_1, DCI format 2_3), a RAR UL grant, a fallbackRAR UL grant, or a successRAR indicating to the wireless device to transmit an uplink channel/signal (e.g., PUSCH, PUCCH, PRACH, or SRS) in the one or more symbols of the slot.

In an example, for one or more symbols of a slot that are indicated to a wireless device as uplink by one or more RRC configuration messages (e.g., tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon or tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated), the wireless device may not receive a downlink channel/signal (e.g., PDCCH, PDSCH, or CSI-RS) in the one or more symbols of the slot when the downlink channel/signal overlaps, even partially, with the one or more symbols of the slot. According to an example, for a set of symbols of a slot that are indicated to a UE as uplink by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon, or tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated, the wireless device may not receive DL PRS in the set of symbols of the slot, if the wireless device is not provided with a measurement gap. According to an example, the wireless device may receive the DL PRS in the set of symbols of the slot, if the wireless device is provided with a measurement gap.

In an example, For the one or more symbols of the slot that are indicated to the wireless device as downlink by the one or more RRC configuration messages (e.g., tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon or tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated), the wireless device may not transmit an uplink channel/signal (e.g., PUSCH, PUCCH, PRACH, and/or SRS) in the one or more symbols of the slot when the uplink channel/signal overlaps, even partially, with the one or more symbols of the slot. In an example, for the one or more symbols of the slot that are indicated to the wireless device as flexible by the one or more RRC configuration messages (common and/or dedicated), the wireless device may not receive both dedicated configuring transmission from the wireless device in the one or more symbols of the slot and dedicated configuring reception by the wireless device in the one or more symbols of the slot.

In an example, for operation on a single carrier in unpaired spectrum, for one or more symbols of a slot indicated to a wireless device by one or more RRC parameters (e.g., ssb-PositionsInBurst in SIB1 or ssb-PositionsInBurst in ServingCellConfigCommon) for reception of SS/PBCH blocks, the wireless device may not transmit an uplink channel/signal (e.g., PUSCH, PUCCH, and/or PRACH) in the slot if a transmission overlaps with at least one symbol from the one or more symbols. In another example, for one or more symbols of a slot indicated to the wireless device by the one or more RRC parameters for reception of SS/PBCH blocks the wireless device may not transmit SRS in the one or more symbols of the slot. In another example, for one or more symbols of a slot indicated to the wireless device by the one or more RRC parameters for reception of SS/PBCH blocks, the wireless device may not expect the one or more symbols of the slot to be indicated as uplink by RRC configuration messages (e.g., tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon or tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated) when provided to the wireless device.

In an example, for one or more symbols of a slot corresponding to a valid PRACH occasion (resource) and N_gap symbols before the valid PRACH occasion, the wireless device may not receive a downlink channel/signal (e.g., PDCCH, PDSCH, or CSI-RS) in the slot if a reception overlaps with any symbol from the one or more symbols. The UE does not expect the one or more symbols of the slot to be indicated as downlink by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon or tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated.

In an example, if a wireless device is scheduled by a first DCI format (e.g., DCI format 1_1) to receive PDSCH over a plurality of slots, and if one or more RRC configuration parameters (e.g., tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon or tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated) indicate that, for a slot in the plurality of slots, at least one symbol from one or more symbols where the wireless device is scheduled PDSCH reception in the slot is an uplink symbol, the wireless device may not receive the PDSCH in the slot. In another example, if the wireless device is scheduled by a second DCI format (e.g., DCI format 0_1) to transmit PUSCH over plurality of slots, and if the one or more RRC configuration parameters indicate that, for a slot from the plurality of slots, at least one symbol from one or more symbols where the wireless device is scheduled PUSCH transmission in the slot is a downlink symbol, the wireless device may not transmit the PUSCH in the slot. According to an example, for one or more symbols of a slot indicated to a wireless device by pdcch-ConfigSIB1 in MIB for a CORESET for Type0-PDCCH CSS set, the wireless device may not expect the one or more symbols to be indicated as uplink by the one or more RRC configuration parameters.

For one or more symbols of a slot that are indicated as downlink/uplink by RRC configuration messages (e.g., TDD-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon or TDD-UL-DL-ConfigDedicated), the wireless device may not detect a DCI format (e.g., DCI format 2_0) with an SFI-index field value indicating the one or more symbols of the slot as uplink/downlink, respectively, or as flexible. In an example, for one or more symbols of a slot indicated to a wireless device by RRC messages (e.g., ssb-PositionsInBurst in ssb-PositionsInBurst) for reception of SS/PBCH blocks, the wireless device may not detect the DCI format (e.g., DCI format 2_0) with an SFI-index field value indicating the one or more symbols of the slot as uplink. In another example, for one or more symbols of a slot indicated to a wireless device by RRC messages (e.g., prach-ConfigurationIndex in RACH-ConfigCommon) for PRACH transmissions, the wireless device may not detect the DCI format (e.g., DCI format 2_0) with an SFI-index field value indicating the one or more symbols of the slot as downlink. In an example, for one or more symbols of a slot indicated to a wireless device by RRC messages (e.g., pdcch-ConfigSIB1 in MIB) for a CORESET for Type0-PDCCH CSS set, the wireless device may not detect the DCI format (e.g., DCI format 2_0) with an SFI-index field value indicating the one or more symbols of the slot as uplink.

For one or more symbols of a slot indicated to a wireless device as flexible by RRC configuration messages (e.g., TDD-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon and TDD-UL-DL-ConfigDedicated), or when RRC configuration messages are not provided to the wireless device, the wireless device may detect a DCI format (e.g., DCI format 2_0) providing a format for the slot. If at least one symbol of the one or more symbols is a symbol in a CORESET is configured to the wireless device for PDCCH monitoring, the wireless device may receive PDCCH in the CORESET only if an SFI-index field value in the DCI format indicates that the at least one symbol is a downlink symbol.

In an example, for one or more symbols of a slot indicated to a wireless device as flexible by RRC configuration messages (e.g., TDD-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon and TDD-UL-DL-ConfigDedicated), or when RRC configuration messages are not provided to the wireless device, the wireless device may detect a DCI format (e.g., DCI format 2_0) providing a format for the slot. If the SFI-index field value in the DCI format indicates the one or more symbols of the slot as flexible and the wireless device detects a second DCI format (e.g., DCI format 1_0, DCI format 1_1, or DCI format 0_1) indicating to the wireless device to receive downlink channel/signal (e.g., PDSCH or CSI-RS) in the one or more symbols of the slot, the wireless device may receive the downlink channel/signal in the one or more symbols of the slot.

According to an example, for one or more symbols of a slot indicated to a wireless device as flexible by RRC configuration messages (e.g., TDD-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon and TDD-UL-DL-ConfigDedicated), or when RRC configuration messages are not provided to the wireless device, the wireless device may detect a DCI format (e.g., DCI format 2_0) providing a format for the slot. If the SFI-index field value in the DCI format indicates the one or more symbols of the slot as flexible, and the wireless device does not detect a DCI format (e.g., DCI format 1_0, DCI format 1_1, or DCI format 0_1) indicating to the wireless device to receive a downlink channel/signal (e.g., PDSCH or CSI-RS), the wireless device may not transmit the downlink channel/signal in the one or more symbols of the slot. In an example, if the SFI-index field value in the DCI format indicates the one or more symbols of the slot as flexible and the wireless device detects a DCI format (e.g., DCI format 0_0, DCI format 0_1, DCI format 1_0, DCI format 1_1, DCI format 2_3), or a RAR UL grant, or a fallbackRAR UL grant, or a successRAR indicating to the wireless device to transmit an uplink channel/signal (e.g., PUSCH, PUCCH, PRACH, or SRS) in the one or more symbols of the slot, the wireless device may transmit the uplink channel/signal in the one or more symbols of the slot. In an example, the wireless device may not detect an SFI-index field value in a first DCI format indicating the one or more symbols of the slot as downlink and also detect a second DCI format (e.g., DCI format 0_0, DCI format 0_1, DCI format 1_0, DCI format 1_1, DCI format 2_3), or a RAR UL grant, or a fallbackRAR UL grant, or a successRAR indicating to the wireless device to transmit an uplink channel/signal (e.g., SRS, PUSCH, PUCCH, or PRACH) in at least one symbol of the one or more symbols of the slot.

In an example, for one or more symbols of a slot indicated to a wireless device as flexible by RRC configuration messages (e.g., TDD-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon and TDD-UL-DL-ConfigDedicated), or when RRC configuration messages are not provided to the wireless device, the wireless device may detect a DCI format (e.g., DCI format 2_0) providing a format for the slot. If the wireless device is configured by higher layers to receive a downlink channel/signal (e.g., PDSCH or CSI-RS) in the one or more symbols of the slot, the wireless device may receive the downlink channel/signal in the one or more symbols of the slot only if an SFI-index field value in the DCI format indicates the one or more symbols of the slot as downlink. In an example, if the wireless device is configured by higher layers to receive DL PRS in the one or more symbols of the slot, the wireless device may receive the DL PRS in the one or more symbols of the slot only if an SFI-index field value in the DCI format 2_0 indicates the set of symbols of the slot as downlink or flexible. According to an example, if the wireless device is configured by higher layers to transmit an uplink channel/signal (e.g., PUCCH, or PUSCH, or PRACH) in the one or more symbols of the slot, the wireless device transmits the uplink channel/signal in the slot only if an SFI-index field value in the DCI format indicates the one or more symbols of the slot as uplink. In an example, if the wireless device is configured by higher layers to transmit an SRS in the one or more symbols of the slot, the wireless device transmits the SRS only in a subset of symbols from the one or more symbols of the slot indicated as uplink symbols by an SFI-index field value in the DCI format.

In an example, for one or more symbols of a slot indicated to a wireless device as flexible by RRC configuration messages (e.g., TDD-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon and TDD-UL-DL-ConfigDedicated), or when RRC configuration messages are not provided to the wireless device, the wireless device may detect a DCI format (e.g., DCI format 2_0) providing a format for the slot. The wireless device may not expect to detect an SFI-index field value in the DCI format indicating the one or more symbols of the slot as downlink or flexible if the one or more symbols of the slot includes at least one symbol corresponding to any repetition of a PUSCH transmission activated by an UL Type 2 grant PDCCH. In another example, a wireless device may not expect to detect an SFI-index field value in the DCI format indicating the one or more symbols of the slot as uplink and detect a second DCI format (e.g., DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 1_1 or DCI format 0_1) indicating to the wireless device to receive a downlink channel/signal (e.g., PDSCH or CSI-RS) in at least one symbol of the one or more symbols of the slot.

Prior to initiation of a random access (RA) procedure, a base station may transmit one or more configuration messages 1310 (e.g., RRC messages) to configure a wireless device with one or more parameters of RACH configuration. The configuration parameters may comprise first configuration parameters (e.g., in a RA-ConfigCommon IE) of the RA procedure for a first RA type (e.g., a 4-step RA type) and second configuration parameters (e.g., in a RA-ConfigCommonTwoStepRA-r16 IE) of the RA procedure for a second RA type (e.g., a 2-step RA type). In an example, the configuration parameters may further comprise a third configuration parameters (e.g., MsgA-PUSCH-Config IE) of PUSCH resources for MsgA 1331 transmission for the 2-step RA type. The first configuration parameters, configured on a BWP, may indicate configuration parameters of a cell specific RA configuration parameters, which the wireless device may use for contention based (CB) and contention free (CF) RA as well as for CB BFR in the BWP. The second configuration parameters, configured on a BWP, may indicate configuration parameters of a cell specific RA configuration parameters, which the wireless device may use for CB and CF 2-step RA type procedure as well as for 2-step RA type CB BFR in the BWP. The third configuration parameters, configured on a BWP, may indicate configuration parameters of a cell-specific MsgA PUSCH configuration parameters, which the wireless device may use for contention based MsgA PUSCH 1342 transmission.

In an example, the RACH parameters of 4-step RA type may comprise generic configuration parameters (e.g., in RACH-ConfigGeneric IE), a total number of preambles for the RA procedure (e.g., totalNumberOfRA-Preambles), an indication of association between PRACH occasion (RO) and SSB (e.g., ssb-perRACH-OccasionAndCB-PreamblesPerSSB), one or more configuration parameters (e.g., TB size threshold for preamble Group B selection, pathloss/RSRP threshold for preamble Group B selection, number of preambles per SSB available in preamble group B) of preamble Group B, a contention resolution timer value (e.g., ra-ContentionResolutionTimer) for a contention resolution timer, a first RSRP threshold (e.g., rsrp-ThresholdSSB) for selection of SS block and corresponding PRACH resource, a second RSRP threshold (e.g., rsrp-ThresholdSSB-SUL) for selection of a SUL or a NUL for the RA procedure, an indication of PRACH root sequence index (e.g., prach-RootSequenceIndex), and one or more other parameters.

In an example, the RACH parameters of 2-step RA type may comprise generic configuration parameters (e.g., in RACH-ConfigGenericTwoStepRA IE), a total number of preambles for the RA procedure (e.g., msgA-TotalNumberOfRA-Preambles), an indication of association between PRACH occasion and SSB (e.g., msgA-SSB-PerRACH-OccasionAndCB-PreamblesPerSSB), one or more configuration parameters (e.g., in GroupB-ConfiguredTwoStepRA) of preamble Group B, a contention resolution timer value (e.g., ra-ContentionResolution Timer) for a contention resolution timer, an indication of PRACH root sequence index (e.g., prach-RootSequenceIndex), and one or more other parameters.

According to an example, the indication of association between PRACH occasion and SSB may indicate, by a first field, a number of SSBs per PRACH occasion (e.g., a value oneEight may correspond to one SSB associated with 8 RACH occasions, value oneFourth correspond to one SSB associated with 4 RACH occasions, and so on). The indication of association between PRACH occasion and SSB may indicate, by a second field, a number of preambles per SSB (e.g., value n4 may correspond to 4 preambles per SSB, value n8 correspond to 8 preambles per SSB, and so on).

According to an example, a cell specific random access configuration message (e.g., RACH-ConfigCommon and/or RACH-ConfigGeneric) may further comprise, among other parameters, at least one of following: one or more PRACH configuration indexes (e.g., prach-ConfigurationIndex), a number of PRACH occasions that may be multiplexed in frequency domain (FDMed) in a time instance (e.g., msg1-FDM), an offset of a lowest PRACH occasion in frequency domain with respect to a first resource block (e.g., msg1-FrequencyStart), a power ramping step for PRACH (e.g., powerRampingStep), a target power level at the network receiver side (preambleReceivedTargetPower), a maximum number of random access preamble transmission that may be performed (e.g., preambleTransMax), and a window length for a random access response (i.e., RAR, e.g., Msg2) (e.g., ra-ResponseWindow). In an example, one or more PRACH configuration indexes (e.g., prach-ConfigurationIndex), may indicate, among other things, a preamble format, a periodicity for one or more PRACH time resources, one or more PRACH subframe numbers, a number of PRACH slots within the one or more PRACH subframes, a PRACH starting symbol number, and a number of time domain PRACH occasions within first PRACH slot. A PRACH may be transmitted using a selected PRACH format with a PRACH transmission power on an indicated PRACH resource.

For example, a dedicated random access configuration message (e.g., RACH-ConfigDedicated) may comprise, among other parameters, one or more RACH occasions for contention-free random access (e.g., occasions), and one or more PRACH mask index for random access resource selection (e.g., ra-ssb-OccasionMaskIndex).

A wireless device may be provided a number N of SSBs associated with one PRACH occasion and a number R of CB preambles per SSB per valid PRACH occasion (e.g., by ssb-perRACH-OccasionAndCB-PreamblesPerSSB). In an example, when N<1, one SSB may be mapped to 1/N consecutive valid PRACH occasions and R CB preambles with consecutive indexes associated with the SSB per valid PRACH occasion start from preamble index 0. In another example, when N is larger or equal to 1 (N>=1), R CB preambles with consecutive indexes associated with SSB n, n=0, 1, . . . , N−1, per valid PRACH occasion start from preamble index

$\frac{nN_{preamble}^{total}}{N}$

where N_(preamble) ^(total) is provided by totalNumberOfRA-Preambles (or by msgA-TotalNumberOfRA-Preambles for 2-step RA procedure with separate configuration of PRACH occasions from a 4-step RA procedure).

One or more random access parameters may further comprise an association period for mapping one or more SS/PBCH blocks to one or more PRACH occasions. FIG. 17A shows several examples of the mapping between PRACH configuration period and SS/PBCH block to PRACH occasion association period. The association period, starting from frame 0, for mapping SS/PBCH block indexes to PRACH occasions may be determined by the PRACH configuration period. In an example, the mapping of SS/PBCH block indexes to PRACH occasions may be carried out such that a number of SS/PBCH block indexes (e.g., N_SSB) are mapped at least once to the PRACH occasions within the association period. For example, one or more SS/PBCH block indexes may be mapped to the one or more PRACH occasions based on an order. In an example, SSB indexes (e.g., provided by ssb-PositionsInBurst in SIB1 or in ServingCellConfigCommon) may be mapped to valid PRACH occasions in the following order: first, in increasing order of preamble indexes within a single PRACH occasion; second, in increasing order of frequency resource indexes for frequency multiplexed PRACH occasions; third, in increasing order of time resource indexes for time multiplexed PRACH occasions within a PRACH slot; fourth, in increasing order of indexes for PRACH slots. In an example, for a PRACH transmission triggered by a PDCCH order, the PRACH mask index field (e.g., ra-ssb-OccasionMaskIndex) may indicate the PRACH occasion for the PRACH transmission (e.g., if the value of the random access preamble index field is not zero), where the PRACH occasions may be associated with the SS/PBCH block index indicated by the SS/PBCH block index field of the PDCCH order.

For paired spectrum or SUL band, all PRACH occasions are valid. For unpaired spectrum, if a wireless device is not provided TDD-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon, a PRACH occasion in a PRACH slot may be valid, for example if it does not precede a SS/PBCH block in the PRACH slot and starts at least N_gap symbols after a last SS/PBCH block reception symbol. FIG. 17B shows values of N_gap for several PRACH numerologies. If the wireless device is provided TDD-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon, a PRACH occasion in a PRACH slot may be valid, for example if it is within UL symbols, or it does not precede a SS/PBCH block in the PRACH slot and starts at least N_gap symbols after a last downlink symbol and at least N_gap symbols after a last SS/PBCH block transmission symbol. For example, for preamble format B4 the value of N_gap is zero (N_gap=0). A wireless device may not use an invalid PRACH occasion for transmission of a preamble.

In an example, if after an integer number of SS/PBCH block indexes to PRACH occasions mapping cycles within the association period there is a set of PRACH occasions or PRACH preambles that are not mapped to N_SSB SS/PBCH block indexes, no SS/PBCH block indexes are mapped to the set of PRACH occasions or PRACH preambles. An association pattern period may include one or more association periods and may be determined so that a pattern between PRACH occasions and SS/PBCH block indexes repeats over a preconfigured window (e.g., at most every 160 msec). According to an example, a wireless device may determine whether one or more PRACH occasions not being associated with SS/PBCH block indexes after an integer number of association periods. The wireless device, based on determining that one or more PRACH occasions not being associated with SS/PBCH block indexes after an integer number of association periods, may not use the one or more PRACH occasions for preamble transmission.

The PRACH occasions may be mapped consecutively per corresponding SS/PBCH block index. The indexing of the PRACH occasion indicated by the mask index value may be reset per mapping cycle of consecutive PRACH occasions per SS/PBCH block index. The wireless device may select for a PRACH transmission the PRACH occasion indicated by PRACH mask index value for the indicated SS/PBCH block index in the first available mapping cycle. For the indicated preamble index, the ordering of the PRACH occasions may be as follows: first, in increasing order of frequency resource indexes for frequency multiplexed PRACH occasions; second, in increasing order of time resource indexes for time multiplexed PRACH occasions within a PRACH slot; third, in increasing order of indexes for PRACH slots.

FIG. 17C shows examples of time gap between the PRACH occasion/resource and a uplink occasion/resource. In an example, for single cell operation or for operation with carrier aggregation in a same frequency band, a wireless device may not transmit PRACH and PUSCH/PUCCH/SRS in a same slot or when a gap between the first or last symbol of a PRACH transmission in a first slot is separated by less than M_gap symbols (see FIG. 17C) from the last or first symbol, respectively, of a PUSCH/PUCCH/SRS transmission in a second slot.

The same PRACH resources may be shared for a four-step RACH procedure and a two-step RACH procedure. In an example, separate PRACH occasions may be configured for two-step RACH and four-step RACH. Shared PRACH occasions but separate preambles may be configured for two-step RACH and four-step RACH. In an example, shared PRACH occasions and shared preambles may be configured for two-step RACH and four-step RACH. In an example, MsgA may support all the preamble formats specified for NR (e.g., Release 15). Four-step RACH resources may be configured regardless of whether two-step RACH is configured or not. In an example, the configuration of two-step RACH may reuse the configuration of four-step RACH with one or more additional information (e.g., UL grant, and/or UL grant to SSB association, and/or UL grant to PRACH occasion mapping, and/or UL grant to preamble mapping, etc.), for example to save duplicated signaling.

According to an example, the third configuration parameters (e.g., in MsgA-PUSCH-Config IE) of PUSCH resources may comprise a list of MsgA PUSCH resources (e.g., msgA-PUSCH-ResourceList) that the wireless device may use when performing MsgA 1331 transmission. The third configuration parameters may further comprise a power offset value (e.g., msgA-DeltaPreamble) of msgA PUSCH relative to a preamble received target power. In an example, each MsgA PUSCH resource of the list of MsgA PUSCH resources may be associated with one or more parameters comprising a preamble group indication (e.g., msgA-PUSCH-PreambleGroup) indicating a preamble group that the msgA PUSCH configuration is tied to according to groupB-ConfiguredTwoStep in RACH-ConfigCommonTwoStepRA, one or more PUSCH resource time and/or frequency domain resource allocation parameters. The number of PUSCH resources may be consistent with the number of configured preamble groups in RACH-ConfigCommonTwoStepRA in a BWP. In an example, if an active UL BWP is not an initial UL BWP and msgA-PUSCH-Config is not provided for the active UL BWP, the UE may use the msgA-PUSCH-Config provided for the initial UL BWP.

A wireless device may be configured with a four-step RACH configuration regardless of whether two-step RACH configuration exists or not. Thus, when the base station configures the wireless device with both four-step and two-step RACH resources, the wireless device may need to select which type of RACH (2-step or 4-step) to use to initiate a RACH procedure. In an example, the RACH parameters of 2-step RA type may further comprise one or more RSRP thresholds comprising a first RSRP threshold (e.g., msgA-RSRP-Threshold) for selection of 2-step RA type or 4-step RA type to perform the procedure (on a NUL), a second RSRP threshold (e.g., msgA-RSRP-ThresholdSUL) for selection of 2-step RA type or 4-step RA type to perform the procedure on a SUL, a third RSRP threshold (e.g., msgA-RSRP-ThresholdSSB) for selection of SS block and corresponding PRACH resource, a fourth RSRP threshold (e.g., msgA-RSRP-ThresholdSSB-SUL) for selection of a NUL or a SUL to perform the RA procedure. The wireless device supporting two-step RACH may always select two-step RACH as long as a received target power for the preamble and PUSCH transmission may be achieved. The wireless device may select between a two-step RACH and a four-step RACH based on RSRP. In an example, the base station may indicate which type of PRACH to use to the wireless device, and/or the wireless device may select which type of PRACH to use based on, for example, the trigger event, and/or prioritized rule, etc. It may not matter to the network which type of RACH the wireless device selects, for example because trigger events of two-step and four-step RACH may be the same, and/or cell radiuses supported by two-step and four-step RACH may be the same.

There may be a case that a wireless device may receive, from a base station, configuration parameters indicating different (or independent) PRACH occasions between 2-step RA and four-step RA. The different (or independent) PRACH occasions may reduce receiver uncertainty and/or reduce the access delay. The base station may configure the wireless device with different (or independent) PRACH resources such that the base station being able to identify, based on PRACH occasion that the base station receives the received preamble, whether a received preamble being transmitted by a wireless device for 2-step RA or four-step RA. In an example, a base station may flexibility determine whether to configure shared PRACH occasions or separate PRACH occasions between 2-step RA and four-step RA procedures. A wireless device may receive, from the base station, RRC message(s) and/or DCI indicating an explicit or implicit indication of whether to configure shared PRACH occasions or separate PRACH occasions between 2-step RA and four-step RA procedures. There may be a case that a base station configures one or more PRACH occasions shared between 2-step RA and four-step RA and preambles partitioned for the 2-step RA and the four-step RA.

In an example, a base station may transmit to a wireless device one or more RRC messages (e.g., RACH-ConfigGenericTwoStepRA IE) comprising generic configuration parameters of a RA procedure for 2-step RA type on a cell (or a BWP of the cell). The generic configuration parameters of the RA procedure for 2-step RA type may comprise: a PRACH configuration index (e.g., msgA-PRACH-ConfigurationIndex), a preamble target received power level (e.g., msgA-PreambleReceivedTargetPower), a maximum number (e.g., msgA-TransMax) of MsgA PRACH transmission performed before switching to a 4-step RA procedure, a maximum number (e.g., preambleTransMax) of RA preamble transmission performed before declaring an RA failure, a MsgB monitoring window length (e.g., msgB-Response Window) in number of slots, a power ramping step (e.g., msgA-PreamblePowerRampingStep) for MsgA PRACH, a number (e.g., msgA-RO-FDM) of msgA PRACH transmission occasions multiplexed in one time instance, an offset indication (e.g., msgA-RO-FrequencyStart) of lowest PRACH transmissions occasion in frequency domain with respect to PRB 0 and etc.

In an example, multiple MsgA PUSCH configurations may be provided to the wireless device. For example, for MsgA PUSCH configuration following parameters may be defined: Modulation and coding scheme (MCS) and/or TB size (TBS); number of FDMed PUSCH occasions (POs), wherein POs (including guard band and/or guard period, if exist) under the same MsgA PUSCH configuration are consecutive in frequency domain; number of TDMed POs; number of PRBs per PO; number of DMRS symbols/ports/sequences per PO; bandwidth of PRB level guard band and/or duration of guard time; PUSCH mapping type. In another example, for MsgA PUSCH with separate configuration from MsgA PRACH, the following parameters may be defined: periodicity (MsgA PUSCH configuration period); offset(s) (e.g., symbol, slot, subframe, etc.); time domain resource allocation (e.g., in a slot for MsgA PUSCH: starting symbol, number of symbols per PO, number of time-domain POs, etc.); frequency starting point. In another example, for MsgA PUSCH with relative configuration with respect to MsgA PRACH, the following parameters may be defined: time offset (combination of slot-level and symbol-level indication) with respect to a reference point (e.g., start or end of each PRACH slot); number of symbols per PO (e.g., explicit or implicit indication); frequency offset with respect to a reference point (e.g., start of the first RO or end of the last RO in frequency domain).

A PUSCH occasion for PUSCH transmission may be defined by a frequency resource and a time resource and is associated with a DMRS resource. In an example, the DMRS resources may be provided by msgA-DMRS-Config. In another example, a wireless device may be provided a DMRS configuration for a PUSCH transmission in a PUSCH occasion in an active UL BWP by msgA-DMRS-Config. In an example, a wireless device may determine a first interlace or first RB for a first PUSCH occasion in an active UL BWP respectively from interlaceIndexFirstPO-MsgA-PUSCH or from frequencyStartMsgA-PUSCH that provides an offset, in number of RBs in the active UL BWP, from a first RB of the active UL BWP. In an example, a PUSCH occasion may include a number of interlaces or a number of RBs provided by nrofInterlacesPerMsgA-PO. In another example, a PUSCH occasion may include a number of interlaces or a number of RBs provided by nrofPRBs-perMsgA-PO.

In an example, one or more consecutive PUSCH occasions in the frequency domain of an UL BWP may be separated by a number of RBs provided by guardBandMsgA-PUSCH. A number N_(f) of PUSCH occasions in the frequency domain of an UL BWP is provided by nrofMsgA-PO-FDM. In another example, a number N_(t) of time domain PUSCH occasions in each slot is provided by nrofMsgA-PO-perSlot and a number N_(s) of consecutive slots that include PUSCH occasions is provided by nrofSlotsMsgA-PUSCH. According to an example, the RACH configuration parameters 1310 may imply that a first PUSCH occasion in a PUSCH slot has a same start and length indicator value (SLIV) for a PUSCH transmission that is provided by startSymbolAndLengthMsgA-PO or msgA-PUSCH-timeDomainAllocation. In an example, consecutive PUSCH occasions within each slot may have same duration (e.g., in number of symbols).

For a PUSCH transmission with frequency hopping in a slot, when indicated by msgA-intraSlotFrequencyHopping for the active UL BWP, the frequency offset for the second hop may be determined using msgA-HoppingBits. In an example, if guardPeriodMsgA-PUSCH is provided, a first symbol of the second hop may be separated by guardPeriodMsgA-PUSCH symbols from the end of a last symbol of the first hop. In an example, if guardPeriodMsgA-PUSCH is not provided, there is no time separation of the PUSCH transmission before and after frequency hopping. According to an example, if a wireless device is provided with useInterlacePUCCH-PUSCH in BWP-UplinkCommon, the wireless device may not transmit PUSCH without frequency hopping.

In some aspects, the RA message payload may be referred to as a message A payload, a MsgA payload, a payload, a MsgA PUSCH, and/or the like. In an example, the MsgA may comprise at least one preamble via a PRACH occasion and/or a Transport block (e.g., payload) via a PUSCH occasion, to a base station. The MsgA payload may comprise an identifier for contention resolution. For example, a wireless device may construct a MAC header as the MsgA payload with a plurality of bits (e.g., 56 and/or 72 bits). For example, MsgA payload may comprise buffer status report (BSR) MAC CE, power headroom report (PHR) MAC CE, RRC messages, connection request, etc.

In two-step RACH procedure, the receiver sensitivity for a MsgA preamble and a MsgA payload may be different. For example, it is possible that the base station may detect the MsgA preamble successfully but fail to detect the MsgA payload. The base station may first attempt to detect the MsgA preamble and then, using the detected MsgA preamble (e.g., the detected preamble may be used to estimate the TA), may attempt to decode the MsgA payload. To improve the decoding performance of the MsgA payload, the base station may configure the payload transmitting power offset to the MsgA preamble to compensate for the different receiver sensitivity. The base station may perform beam sweeping to receive MsgA payload. For PUSCH transmission of MsgA, beam correspondence may need to be addressed, for example to avoid beam sweeping. In an example, association between the time and frequency resource of the MsgA PUSCH (MsgA PUSCH occasion) and SSB may be beneficial for the base station, because it may reduce the power consumption for beam sweeping.

In an example, one or more PRACH preambles may be mapped to one DMRS. The base station may use DMRS of the MsgA PUSCH for channel estimation. The base station may use the PRACH preamble for channel estimation of the MsgA PUSCH when, for example, the PRACH and the MsgA PUSCH resources are close in time and/or frequency. Thus, the base station may detect whether the DMRS collided, and thus, whether to use the DMRS for the channel estimation, for example, based on the detected PRACH preamble. One or more preambles may be mapped to a MsgA PUSCH in a unique time and frequency resource. This may reduce the likelihood of failed PUSCH decoding due to collision at the base station but may increase the two-step RACH physical layer overhead in the uplink. In an example, the wireless device may not transmit a MsgA PUSCH in a PUSCH occasion if the PUSCH occasion associated with a DMRS resource is not mapped to a preamble of valid PRACH occasions. In an example, a wireless device may use a spatial filter for transmitting PUSCH transmission based on an associated PRACH transmission (e.g., the same spatial filter that is used for the transmission of the associated PRACH).

For mapping one or multiple preambles of a PRACH slot to a PUSCH occasion associated with a DMRS resource, a wireless device may determine a first slot for a first PUSCH occasion in an active UL BWP from msgA-PUSCH-TimeDomainOffset that provides an offset, in number of slots in the active UL BWP, relative to the start of a PUSCH slot including the start of each PRACH slot. A mapping between one or multiple PRACH preambles and a PUSCH occasion associated with a DMRS resource may be per PUSCH configuration.

In an example, a PRACH occasion and a MsgA PUSCH occasion may be associated/mapped. The base station may transmit, to the wireless device, a message specifying/configuring a mapping ratio between RRACH occasions and MsgA PUSCH occasions. The base station may transmit, to the wireless device, a message specifying/configuring the relative location of MsgA PUSCH occasions with respect to the associated PRACH occasions. In an example, one or more MsgA PUSCH occasions may be configured within a MsgA PUSCH configuration period. For separate configuration of PRACH occasions and MsgA PUSCH occasions, the MsgA PUSCH configuration period may or may not be the same as PRACH configuration period. For relative configuration of PUSCH occasions with respect to PRACH occasions, the MsgA PUSCH configuration period may be the same as PRACH configuration period.

For a two-step RACH, a PRACH occasion and a MsgA PUSCH occasion may be TDMed and may be located in different resources (e.g., in different time slots). For example, the MsgA PRACH occasion and the MsgA PUSCH occasion may be located in non-contiguous time slots. In an example, in unpaired spectrum (e.g., an TDD operation), UL slot may be isolated, and MsgA PUSCH transmission may not be able to follow MsgA preamble transmission within the slot or in the following slot, and there may be one or more TDD DL slots between the PRACH occasion and the MsgA PUSCH occasion.

A mapping order for MsgA preamble or PRACH occasion and MsgA PUSCH occasion may be determined. The mapping rule may be based on code domain, followed by frequency domain, followed by time domain (e.g., similar to SSB-to-RO mapping). For example, the mapping order for MsgA preamble/MsgA PRACH occasion and MsgA PUSCH may be as follows: 1) first, in increasing order of code domain, e.g., MsgA PUSCH DMRS port/sequence per MsgA PUSCH occasion and/or MsgA preamble index per MsgA PRACH occasion; 2) second, in increasing order of frequency domain resource; and 3) third, in increasing order of time domain resource. In an example, a wireless device may calculate parameter T_(preamble) as a total number of valid PRACH occasions per association pattern period multiplied by the number of preambles per valid PRACH occasion (e.g., provided by rach-ConfigCommonTwoStepRA). The wireless device may also calculate and T_(PUSCH) as a total number of valid PUSCH occasions per PUSCH configuration per association pattern period multiplied by the number of DMRS resource indexes per valid PUSCH occasion (e.g., provided by msgA-DMRS-Config). The wireless device may map N_(preamble)=ceil(T_(preamble)/T_(PUSCH)) preamble indexes, based on the mapping rule, from valid PRACH occasions in a PRACH slot to a valid PUSCH occasion and the associated DMRS resource. In an example, each consecutive N_(preamble) preamble indexes from valid PRACH occasions in a PRACH slot 1) first, in increasing order of preamble indexes within a single PRACH occasion, 2) second, in increasing order of frequency resource indexes for frequency multiplexed PRACH occasions, 3) third, in increasing order of time resource indexes for time multiplexed PRACH occasions within a PRACH slot, are mapped to a valid PUSCH occasion and the associated DMRS resource 1) first, in increasing order of frequency resource indexes f_(id) for frequency multiplexed PUSCH occasions, 2) second, in increasing order of DMRS resource indexes within a PUSCH occasion, where a DMRS resource index DMRS_(id) is determined first in an ascending order of a DMRS port index and second in an ascending order of a DMRS sequence index; 3) third, in increasing order of time resource indexes t_(id) for time multiplexed PUSCH occasions within a PUSCH slot; 4) fourth, in increasing order of indexes for N_(s) PUSCH slots.

In an example, the MsgA preambles transmitted in a PRACH occasion may be differentiated by different preamble indices. The PUSCHs transmitted in a time and frequency resource may be differentiated by different DMRS ports or sequences. In an example, the mapping between MsgA preambles in each RO and associated MsgA PUSCH resource units (e.g., PUSCH occasion associated with a DMRS resource) may be 1-to-1 or multiple-to-1 or 1-to-multiple. In an example, a base station may configure a wireless device with one or more parameters indicating a starting point of time and/re frequency for a PUSCH occasion, a number of resource groups, and a size of each of the resource groups. An index of each of the resource groups may be mapped to a preamble index (e.g., a particular preamble) and/or a particular PRACH occasion. In an example, the wireless device may determine a location of each of resource groups at least based on a preamble index (e.g., in case RO and PUSCH occasion are 1-to-1 mapping) and/or based on an RO index and a preamble index (e.g., in the case of multiple ROs are associated with one PUSCH occasion). In an example, a number of resource groups and/or the detailed mapping among preamble(s), resource group(s), and DMRS port(s) may be pre-defined and/or semi-statically configured (and/or indicated by DCI dynamically), e.g., to avoid a blind detection from a base station when multiple preambles are mapped to the same resource group.

In an example, one or more rules for determining valid/invalid MsgA PUSCH occasion may be employed. For example, in TDD operation, a MsgA PUSCH occasion may be invalid if one or more symbols of the MsgA PUSCH occasion overlap with DL symbols in TDD configuration. In another example, if one or more symbols of a MsgA PUSCH occasion overlap with SSB symbols, the MsgA PUSCH may be invalid.

In an example, the flexible and/or uplink resources may be indicated based on semi-static slot format configurations, such as RRC signaling of TDD-UL-DL-ConfigCommon and/or TDD-UL-DL-ConfigDedicated. For example, the network may not assign downlink resources using semi-static cell-specific configuration (TDD-UL-DL-ConfigCommon) to one or more symbols and/or slots assigned for PRACH transmission. In an example, a MsgA PUSCH occasion for two-step RACH procedure may partially or fully overlap with one or more DL symbols/resources. A wireless device may consider the MsgA PUSCH occasion that partially or fully overlaps with one or more DL symbols/resources not available for UL transmission (e.g., invalid PUSCH occasion).

In another example, a base station may configure RACH resources/occasions such that they overlap with one or more PUSCH occasions. This may not degrade performance of initial access based on a four-step RACH procedure. When a two-step RACH procedure is used, a MsgA PUSCH occasion may be invalid if one or more symbols of the MsgA PUSCH occasion overlap (e.g., in time and frequency) with one or more PRACH occasions. For example, if the MsgA PUSCH occasion is associated with the overlapped PRACH occasion, a wireless device may not be able to transmit MsgA preamble and MsgA PUSCH simultaneously due to the wireless device complexity and increased power consumption.

FIGS. 18A, 18B, and 18C shows several examples of MsgA PUSCH occasions. In an example, a MsgA PUSCH occasion may be considered valid if it does not overlap in time and frequency with any valid PRACH occasion associated with either a 2-step random access procedure or a 4-step random access procedure. FIG. 18A shows an example of valid PUSCH. In the example shown in FIG. 18A the PRACH occasion and the MsgA PUSCH occasion may overlap in frequency, but they are separated in time with a gap (measured in the number of symbols) from each other such that the gap is larger than a predefined threshold (e.g., M_gap symbols given in FIG. 17C). In another example, FIG. 18B shows an example of an invalid MsgA PUSCH occasion as it is separated in time with a gap that is smaller than the predetermined threshold (M_gap symbols). FIG. 18C shows an example that a PRACH occasion and MsgA PUSCH occasion are overlapped in frequency and in time. The MsgA PUSCH occasion in FIG. 18C is invalid due to time and frequency overlap with the PRACH occasion.

In an example, for unpaired spectrum and for SS/PBCH blocks (e.g., with indexes provided by ssb-PositionsInBurst in SIB1 or by ServingCellConfigCommon), a wireless device may determine whether a MsgA PUSCH is invalid or not based on one or more rules. The one or more rules may specify that if the wireless device is not provided tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon, the MsgA PUSCH occasion is valid if the MsgA PUSCH occasion does not precede a SS/PBCH block in the PUSCH slot and starts at least N_gap symbols after a last SS/PBCH block symbol, where N_gap is provided in FIG. 17B. In an example, the network may configure slot formats of one or more PRACH and/or MsgA PUSCH resources for an RRC CONNECTED mode UE as ‘U’, ‘D’, or ‘F’. This may result in increased flexibility for the network in resource allocation and/or load control. For example, a wireless device in connected mode may receive a DCI format 2_0 indicating one or more symbols of a semi-statically configured MsgA PUSCH occasion as ‘F’. In an example, the one or more rule may specify that the wireless device in connected mode may determine not to transmit MsgA PUSCH via the MsgA PUSCH occasion if the one or more symbols do not start at least N_gap symbols after an SSB/PBCH block. In another example, the one or more rule may specify that if a wireless device is provided tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon, a MsgA PUSCH occasion is valid if the PUSCH occasion is within UL symbols, or does not precede a SS/PBCH block in the PUSCH slot, and starts at least N_gap symbols after a last downlink symbol and at least N_gap symbols after a last SS/PBCH block symbol, where N_gap is provided in FIG. 17B.

In an example, a wireless device may transmit a PRACH preamble in a valid PRACH occasion if the PRACH preamble is not mapped to a valid PUSCH occasion. In another example, the wireless device may not transmit (e.g., drop) a PRACH preamble in a valid PRACH occasion if the PRACH preamble is not mapped to a valid PUSCH occasion. In an example, the wireless device may not transmit the MsgA payload based on determining that the valid PRACH occasion is mapped to an invalid PUSCH occasion. According to an example, the wireless device may not transmit a MsgA PUSCH in a PUSCH occasion if the associated PRACH preamble not being transmitted (e.g., dropped).

FIG. 19 shows an example flow diagram of an RA procedure with multiple uplink carriers and multiple RA types configured. In an example, a base station may transmit to a wireless device one or more RRC messages 1310/1320/1330 comprising configuration parameters of a RA procedure on a cell (or a BWP of the cell). The cell may comprise an SUL and/or an NUL. The RACH configuration procedure may comprise 2-step RA and/or 4-step RA.

Lower layers (e.g., the physical layer) of the wireless device may receive from higher layers (e.g., the MAC layer), among other information, one or more SS/PBCH block indexes and/or one or more configuration parameters of one or more PRACH transmission parameters. In an example, the one or more PRACH transmission parameters may indicate PRACH preamble format, preamble index, a corresponding RA-RNTI (or MSGB-RNTI), time and/or frequency resources for PRACH preamble transmission, and/or parameters for determining one or more sequences and their shifts in the PRACH preamble sequence set (e.g., set type). The physical layer may provide to higher layers one or more corresponding sets of reference signal received power (RSRP) measurements.

As shown in FIG. 19 , the wireless device may trigger the RA procedure based on the configuration parameters of the RA procedure. The wireless device may trigger the RA procedure in response to: initial access to the cell; a positioning procedure; an uplink coverage recovery procedure; initiating a beam failure recovery; receiving from a base station a RRC reconfiguration message for a handover to a second cell; receiving from a base station a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) order; re-synchronizing when new data arrives and the wireless device status is out-of-sync; new data arrives at the buffer of the wireless device when there is no scheduling request (SR) resources (e.g., PUCCH) are configured; and/or pending data exists in the buffer of the wireless device and the wireless device has reached a maximum allowable times for (re)transmitting an SR. In an example, there may only be one RA procedure ongoing at any point in time in a MAC entity of the wireless device. In an example, based on determining that the RA procedure is ongoing, if a new RS procedure is triggered, it may be up to the wireless device implementation whether to continue with the ongoing RA procedure or initiate with the new RA procedure.

In response to triggering the RA procedure, the wireless device may initialize the RA procedure 1910. The initializing the RA procedure may comprise at least one of: determining a carrier (SUL or NUL) for performing the RA procedure based on measured RSRP 1920, determining a 2-step RA type or a 4-step RA type (e.g., selecting RA type) for performing the RA procedure 1930, and initializing one or more RA parameters (variables) specific to the selected RA type 1940.

Once the RA procedure is initiated, the wireless device may perform RA procedure using selected RA resources with the selected RA carrier and RA type 1950. In an example, performing the RA procedure, based on determining that the RA procedure is a 4-step RA procedure, may comprise at least one or more of the following: selecting the RA resources and transmitting one or more PRACH preambles, and/or monitoring one or more PDCCHs for receiving one or more random access responses (RARs), and/or one or more retransmissions of the one or more PRACH preambles, and/or transmission of Msg3, and/or contention resolution procedure. In another example, performing the RA procedure, based on determining that the RA procedure is a 2-step RA procedure, may comprise at least one or more of the following: selecting the RA resources and transmitting one or more PRACH preambles and/or one or more MsgA payloads, and/or monitoring one or more PDCCHs for receiving one or more random access responses (RARs), and/or one or more retransmissions of the one or more PRACH preambles and/or MsgA payloads, and/or switching to a 4-step RA procedure, and/or performing fallback procedure (e.g., transmitting Msg3 in response to receiving a MsgB comprising fallback MAC subPDU).

In an example, in response to triggering the RA procedure, the wireless device may measure a RSRP of a pathloss RS of the cell. The wireless device may select the pathloss RS (e.g., SSB, or CSI-RS), from a plurality of RSs, with highest RSRP value among the plurality of RSs configured by a base station. For example, the wireless device may determine whether the measured RSRP is lower than a first RSRP threshold (e.g., rsrp-ThresholdSSB-SUL). For example, in response to the RSRP being lower than the first RSRP threshold, the wireless device may select an SUL for performing the RA procedure. In response to the RSRP being higher than the first RSRP threshold, the wireless device may select an NUL for performing the RA procedure.

The wireless device may employ/use/maintain one or more parameters/variables for the initiated RA procedure. For example, the one or more parameters/variables may comprise at least one of: RA_TYPE; PREAMBLE_INDEX; PREAMBLE_TRANSMISSION_COUNTER; PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_COUNTER; PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_STEP; PREAMBLE_RECEIVED_TARGET_POWER; PREAMBLE_BACKOFF; PCMAX; SCALING_FACTOR_BI; POWER_OFFSET_2STEP_RA; MSGA_PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_STEP; and TEMPORARY_C-RNTI. The wireless device may set one or more of the RA procedure parameters/variables. According to an example, the wireless device may set the value of PCMAX based on the selected carrier (SUL or NUL).

In an example, upon initiating the RA procedure 1910, the wireless device may flush the Msg3 buffer. In another example, upon triggering the RA procedure 1920, the wireless device may flush the MsgA buffer.

As shown in FIG. 19 , in response to selecting an uplink carrier (e.g., SUL or NUL) for performing the RA procedure, the wireless device may select the RA type 1930. In an example, the wireless device may determine whether the RSRP is greater than a second RSRP threshold (e.g., msgA-RSRP-Threshold). In another example, the wireless device may select the RA type based on a plurality of conditions, e.g., the RSRP value, delay requirement, distance to the serving (or target) base station, and logical channel priority triggering a BSR, and the like. In an example, in response to the RSRP being greater than the second RSRP threshold, the wireless device may select 2-step RA type (e.g., RA_TYPE=2-stepRA) for performing the RA procedure on the selected uplink carrier. In an example, in response to the RSRP being smaller than the second RSRP threshold, the wireless device may select 4-step RA type (e.g., RA_TYPE=4-stepRA) for performing the RA procedure on the selected uplink carrier. According to another example, when the RA procedure is triggered/initiated for system information (SI) acquisition, the wireless device may select the 4-step RA type for performing the RA procedure.

As shown in FIG. 19 , after determining the RA type 1930, the wireless device may initialize one or more RA parameters specific to the selected RA type 1940. The wireless device may initialize one or more parameters (e.g., transmission counter, transmission timer, transmission power settings, response windows, and etc.) of the RA procedure. For example, based on determining that the selected RA type is a 2-step RA procedure (i.e., RA_TYPE=2-stepRA), the one or more RA parameters specific to 2-step RA procedure may comprise at least the following: PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_STEP, msgA-TransMax, preambleTransMax, and SCALING_FACTOR_BI. In another example, based on determining that the selected RA type is a 4-step RA procedure (i.e., RA_TYPE=4-stepRA), the one or more RA parameters specific to 4-step RA procedure may comprise at least the following: PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_STEP, preambleTransMax, and SCALING_FACTOR_BI. For example, based on determining that the selected RA type is a 2-step RA procedure (i.e., RA_TYPE=2-stepRA) the wireless device may set PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_STEP to msgA-PreamblePowerRampingStep.

In an example, if RA_TYPE is switched from 2-stepRA to 4-stepRA during the ongoing/current RA procedure, the wireless device may set POWER_OFFSET_2STEP_RA based on at least one or more configured parameters. In an example, the at least one or more configured parameters may comprise PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_COUNTER and PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_STEP. In response to switching the RA type from 2-stepRA to 4-stepRA during the ongoing/current RA procedure, the wireless device may initialize the RA variables specific to a 4-step RA type 1940 and perform the RA procedure 1950.

As shown in FIG. 19 , after the initialization of parameters/variables specific to the selected RA type 1940, the wireless device may perform the RA procedure. In an example, an RA procedure may comprise one or more transmissions of an PRACH preamble (e.g., Msg1) in one or more PRACH occasions. The wireless device may transmit at least one random access preamble in one or more RA resources. For example, the wireless device may transmit a first preamble with a first preamble index. The first preamble may be transmitted using a first PRACH format with a first transmission power on one or more PRACH resources. The one or more PRACH resources may comprise one or more PRACH occasions. In another example, an RA procedure may comprise one or more transmissions of a random access preamble (e.g., Msg1) in one or more PRACH occasions and one or more transmissions of a MsgA PUSCH in one or more MsgA PUSCH occasions.

In an example, for performing the RA procedure, the wireless device may select one or more RA resources for the RA procedure. The one or more random access resources may comprise one or more random access preambles, one or more resources (time and/or frequency) for PRACH transmission. The one or more random access resources may be predefined. The one or more random access resources may be provided by one or more RRC messages. The one or more random access resources may be provided by one or more downlink control orders (e.g., PDCCH order). The one or more random access resources may be determined based on the first downlink reference signal. For example, the wireless device may set a first preamble index (e.g., PREAMBLE_INDEX) to a parameter (e.g., ra-PreambleIndex) corresponding to the first downlink reference signal. In an example, the wireless device may select a first downlink reference signal, e.g., a first SS/PBCH block (SSB), or a first channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS), with the first reference signal received power (RSRP) above a first reference signal received power threshold. For example, the wireless device may select the first downlink reference signal for contention-free random access (CFRA) procedure, for example for beam failure recovery, or system information request. For example, the MAC entity may select the first downlink reference signal for contention-based random access (CBRA) procedure.

In an example, the wireless device may perform an RA resource selection for selecting one or more preambles, one or more PRACH occasions (or resources comprising time, frequency, and/or code), and/or one or more PUSCH occasions. In an example, the wireless device may select one or more SSBs with corresponding one or more SS-RSRP values above rsrp-ThresholdSSB amongst the SSBs in candidateBeamRSList or one or more CSI-RSs with corresponding one or more CSI-RSRP values above rsrp-ThresholdCSI-RS amongst the CSI-RSs in candidateBeamRSList, e.g., when an RA procedure is initiated for beam failure recovery.

In an example, the wireless device may determine the next available PRACH occasion corresponding to the first SSB or the first CSI-RS. For example, the wireless device may select a PRACH occasion (e.g., randomly with equal probability) amongst the PRACH occasions occurring simultaneously but on different subcarriers. The wireless device may determine the next available PRACH occasion based on (e.g., by taking into account) the possible occurrence of measurement gaps. In an example, the wireless device may instruct the physical layer to transmit a Random Access Preamble (RAP) using the selected PRACH occasion, corresponding RA-RNTI (e.g., if available), PREAMBLE_INDEX and PREAMBLE_RECEIVED_TARGET_POWER. For example, the wireless device may determine an RA-RNTI associated with the PRACH occasion in which the RAP being transmitted.

In another example, the wireless device may compute the MSGB-RNTI associated with the PRACH occasion in which the Random Access Preamble is transmitted. The wireless device may instruct the physical layer to transmit the MsgA using the selected PRACH occasion and the associated PUSCH resource of MsgA (e.g., if the selected preamble and PRACH occasion is mapped to a valid MsgA PUSCH occasion) using the corresponding RA-RNTI, MSGB-RNTI, PREAMBLE_INDEX, PREAMBLE_RECEIVED_TARGET_POWER, msgA-PreambleReceivedTargetPower, and the amount of power ramping applied to the latest MsgA preamble transmission.

In an example, a wireless device may perform a RAP transmission based on a selected PREABLE_INDEX and PRACH occasion. In another example, when applicable, the wireless device may perform a RAP transmission based on a selected preamble index and PRACH occasion and may perform a MsgA payload transmission based on a selected MsgA PUSCH occasion. For example, based on a notification of suspending power ramping counter not being received from lower layers (e.g., the physical layer); and/or based on an SSB and/or a CSI-RS selected not being changed (e.g., same as the previous RAP transmission), a wireless device may increment PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_COUNTER, e.g., by one or to the next value (e.g., counter step size may be predefined and/or semi-statically configured).

In an example, the wireless device may start a RAR window (e.g., ra-ResponseWindow or msgB-Response Window) configured in a random access configuration parameter 1310/1320/1330 (e.g., RACH-ConfigCommon) at a first downlink control channel occasion from an end of the RAP transmission (e.g., Msg1 1311 or Msg1 1321 for a case of four-step RA procedure) or from an end MsgA payload transmission (e.g., TB 1342 for a case of 2-step RA procedure). The wireless device may, while the RAR window is running, monitor a first downlink control channel (DCI) occasion of the SpCell for random access response(s) (RARs) identified by a particular RNTI, e.g., a random access-radio network temporary identifier (RA-RNTI), a temporary cell-radio network temporary identifier (TC-RNTI), C-RNTI, and/or an RNTI that generated by a wireless device based on a 2-step RA procedure, e.g., MSGB-RNTI. For example, the first DCI may comprise at least one of the following fields: one or more random access preamble index, SS/PBCH index, PRACH mask index, UL/SUL indicator, frequency and time domain resource assignments, modulation and/or coding schemes. In an example, the wireless device may monitor a set of candidates for the one or more downlink control channels in a Type1-PDCCH common search space set. For example, the Type1-PDCCH common search space set may be configured by the one or more search space sets, e.g., the ra-searchSpace in the PDCCH-ConfigCommon.

In a 2-step RA procedure, the wireless device may receive two separate responses corresponding to a MsgA transmission; a first response for an RAP (e.g., MsgA preamble) transmission; and a second response for a transmission of one or more TBs (e.g., MsgA payload). The wireless device may monitor a PDCCH (e.g., common search space and/or a wireless device specific search space) to detect the first response with a random access RNTI (e.g., -RNTI) generated based on time and/or frequency indices of PRACH resource where the wireless device may transmit the RAP. The wireless device may monitor a common search space and/or a wireless device specific search space to detect the second response. The wireless device may employ a second RNTI to detect the second response. For example, the second RNTI is a C-RNTI if configured, a random access RNTI generated based on time and/or frequency indices of PRACH occasion where the wireless device transmits the RAP, or an RNTI generated based on time and/or frequency indices (and/or DM-RS ID) of PUSCH resource(s) where the wireless device transmits the MsgA payload.

In an example, the RAR window may be indicated by the one or more RRC messages 1310/1320/1330. In an example, the wireless device may determine a length of the RAR window based on the one or more parameters in the one or more RRC messages and/or the type of the RA procedure (e.g., ra-ResponseWindow for a 4-step RA type and msgB-ResponseWindow for a 2-step RA type). In an example, the length of the time window may be defined in terms of a number of slots, OFDM symbols, and/or any combination thereof. In this case, the length may depend on a duration of slot and/or OFDM symbol that may be determined based on a numerology. In an example, the length of the RAR window may be in number of slots. In another example, the length of the time window may be defined based on an absolute time duration, e.g., in terms of millisecond(s).

According to an example, the RAR window may start at a symbol of a first control resource set. According to an example, the symbol duration may correspond to the numerology for the Type1-PDCCH CSS. For example, the symbol may be the first symbol of the earliest CORESET the wireless device is configured to receive PDCCH for the Type1-PDCCH CSS set. In another example, the symbol may be at least one symbol after the last symbol of the PRACH occasion corresponding to the PRACH transmission (e.g., Msg1 or MsgA preamble). In another example, based on determining that a MsgA PRACH occasion or MsgA preamble being mapped to an invalid MsgA PUSCH occasion, the symbol may be determined, by the wireless device, at least one symbol after the last symbol of the (invalid) MsgA PUSCH occasion. In another example, based on determining that a MsgA PRACH occasion or MsgA preamble not being mapped to a valid MsgA PUSCH occasion, the symbol may be determined, by the wireless device, at least one symbol after the last symbol of the MsgA PRACH occasion corresponding to the MsgA PRACH transmission.

In an example, one transmitting a MsgA comprising a MsgA preamble and a MsgA payload, the wireless device may attempt to detect the first DCI with CRC scrambled by a corresponding MSGB-RNTI during the RAR window (e.g., msgB-ResponseWindow). In another example, the wireless device may monitor PDCCH during the RAR window in response to and/or after the transmission of a MsgA preamble if the MsgA PRACH occasion is mapped to a valid PUSCH occasion.

In an example, the wireless device may transmit a MsgA preamble, as part of MsgA transmission, based on determining that the corresponding PRACH occasion or the MsgA preamble is not mapped to a valid MsgA PUSCH occasion. The wireless device may, base on determining that the MsgA preamble is mapped to an invalid MsgA PUSCH occasion, detect the first DCI with CRC scrambled by a corresponding MsgB-RNTI during the RAR window.

In an example, the wireless device may receive a PDCCH based on the RA-RNTI or the MSGB-RNTI. The PDCCH may indicate a downlink assignment based on which the wireless device may receive one or more TBs comprising an MAC PDU. For example, the MAC PDU comprises at least one MAC subPDU with a corresponding subheader comprising a Random Access Preamble identifier (e.g., RAPID) matched to a preamble that a wireless device transmits to the base station. In this case, the wireless device may determine that a RAR reception is successful. For example, the at least one MAC subPDU may comprise a RAPID only, e.g., for a random access procedure being started, by a wireless device, for a system information (SI) request.

A wireless device may stop the RAR window (e.g., ra-ResponseWindow or msgB-Response Window) after and/or in response to receiving one or more RARs being determined as successful. A reception of the one or more RARs may be determined as successful, for example, when the one or more RARs comprise a RAPID corresponding to a preamble that the wireless device transmits to a base station (e.g., MsgA preamble). The one or more RARs may comprise an uplink grant indicating one or more uplink resources granted for the wireless device. The wireless device may transmit one or more transport blocks (e.g., Msg3) via the one or more uplink resources. In an example, the wireless device may use the downlink assignment to identify parameters required for decoding/detecting the one or more TBs. For example, the downlink assignment may indicate at least one of following: time and frequency resource allocation of a PDSCH carrying the one or more TBs, a size of the PDSCH, MCS, etc.

In an example, a RAR message may be in a form of MAC PDU comprising one or more MAC subPDUs and/or optionally padding. In an example, a MAC subPDU may comprise at least one of following: a MAC subheader with Backoff Indicator only; a MAC subheader with RAPID only (e.g., acknowledgment for SI request); a MAC subheader with RAPID and MAC RAR. In an example, an MAC RAR may be fixed size and may comprise at least one of the following fields: an R field that may indicate a Reserved bit; a Timing Advance Command MAC CE field that may indicate the index value TA employed to control the amount of timing adjustment; an UL grant field that may indicate the resources to be employed on the uplink; and an RNTI field (e.g., Temporary C-RNTI and/or C-RNTI) that may indicate an identity that is employed during the RA procedure. For example, for a 2-step RA procedure, a RAR may comprise at least one of following: a wireless device contention resolution identity, an RV ID for retransmission of one or more TBs, decoding success or failure indicator of one or more TB transmission, and one or more.

In an example, the wireless device may determine that a RAR reception not being successful, e.g., based on determining that at least one RAR comprising one or more RAPIDs, matching the transmitted PREAMBLE_INDEX, is not received until the expiry of the RAR window. In an example, in response to and/or after determining that the RAR reception not being successful, the wireless device may perform one or more retransmissions of one or more PRACH preambles during the RA procedure. In another example, the wireless device may determine the requirement for the one or more retransmissions of MsgA (e.g., MsgA preamble and MsgA payload), e.g., in response to not receiving at least one MsgB comprising the contention resolution identifier, which the wireless device may include in MsgA payload, until the expiry of the RAR window. In another example, the wireless device may determine the one or more retransmissions of one or more preambles or MsgA, e.g., in response to determining, by the wireless device, that a contention resolution not being successful. For example, the wireless device may determine, based on Msg 3 1313 for four-step RA procedure and/or MsgB 1332 for 2-step RA procedure, whether the contention resolution being successful or not.

In an example, the wireless device may start a contention resolution timer (e.g., ra-ContentionResolution Timer) and may restart the contention resolution timer at each HARQ retransmission in the first symbol after the end of a Msg3 1313 transmission, for example, once the wireless device transmits, to a base station, the Msg3. A wireless device may determine that the contention resolution not being successful, for example, based on not receiving an indication of a contention resolution until the contention resolution timer expires. In an example, the wireless device may discard a TEMPORARY_C-RNTI indicated by an Msg2 1312 (or Msg B 1332) after or in response to an expiry of the contention resolution timer (and/or in response to a determination of the contention resolution is unsuccessful).

For a 2-step RA procedure, a wireless device may fall back to a four-step RA procedure based on an explicit and/or implicit indication of a MsgB. In an example, in response to receiving, by the wireless device, the MsgB comprising an explicit indication and/or an RNTI used for detecting a PDCCH scheduling the MsgB (e.g., RA-RNTI or MSGB-RNTI), the wireless device may determine to fall back to the four-step RA procedure. The wireless device may transmit Msg3, e.g., after or in response to receiving the fallback message via resource(s) indicated by an UL grant in the MsgB. In this case the wireless device may follow the four-step RA procedure, e.g., starting the contention resolution timer, and/or determining whether the contention resolution being successful or not being successful.

A wireless device may maintain (e.g., increment) a counter counting a number of preamble transmissions (e.g., PREAMBLE_TRANSMISSION_COUNTER) by a value of counter step (e.g., by 1), for example, after or in response to a RAR reception being unsuccessful and/or after or in response to a contention resolution being unsuccessful. The wireless device may determine that the RA procedure being unsuccessfully completed and/or a MAC entity of the wireless device may indicate a random access problem to upper layer(s), for example, in response to determining that the number of preamble transmissions reached a configured value, (e.g., if PREAMBLE_TRANSMISSION_COUNTER=preambleTransMax+1). In an example, the wireless device may determine that the RA procedure not being completed and/or one or more retransmissions of one or more Msg1 1311, Msg1 1321, or Msg A 1331 may be performed, in response to determining that the number of preamble transmissions being smaller than the configured value, (e.g., if PREAMBLE_TRANSMISSION_COUNTER<preambleTransMax+1).

In an example, a wireless device may delay a particular period of time (e.g., a backoff time) for performing a retransmission of one or more Msg1 1311, Msg1 1321, or Msg A 1331. For example, the wireless device may apply the backoff time to the retransmission, for example, in response to the RA procedure being CBRA (e.g., where a preamble being selected by a MAC entity of the wireless device) and/or based on determining, by the wireless device, that the RA procedure not being completed in response to a successful RAR reception. In an example, the backoff time to the retransmission may be applied, by the wireless device, based on determining that that the RA procedure not being completed in response to an unsuccessful contention resolution. In an example, the wireless device may set the backoff time to 0 milliseconds when the RA procedure is initiated 1910. In an example, the wireless device may set (or update) the backoff time based on the PREAMBLE_BACKOFF determined by a value in the backoff indicator (BI) field of the MAC subPDU and one or more RRC messages indicating the scaling factor (e.g., SCALING_FACTOR_BI). For example, the wireless device may determine the backoff time based on a uniform distribution between 0 and the PREAMBLE_BACKOFF.

FIG. 20 shows an example flowchart of resource selection procedure specific to a 2-step RA procedure. To perform the 2-step RA procedure, the wireless device may require selecting one or more resources via the RA resource selection procedure 2010. The RA resource selection procedure may select a valid PRACH occasion and a MsgA PUSCH occasion mapped to the valid PRACH occasion. The wireless device may use the valid PRACH occasion and the MsgA PUSCH occasion for transmitting a MsgA.

In an example, selecting the valid PRACH occasion and the MsgA PUSCH occasion, the RA resource selection procedure 2010 may comprise at least selecting an SSB from a plurality of SSBs 2020, selecting a Random Access Preambles (RAPs) group 2030, selecting a preamble from the selected RAPs group 2040, determining the valid PRACH occasion based on the selected SSB 2050, selecting the MsgA PUSCH occasion mapped to the valid PRACH occasion, and determining an UL grant associated HARQ information (e.g., indicating at least New Data Indicator (NDI), Transport Block size (TBS), Redundancy Version (RV), and/or a HARQ process ID) for one or more UL-SCH resources associated with (or mapped to) the selected preamble and the valid PRACH occasion 2060.

The wireless device may transmit the MsgA using the selected PRACH occasion (e.g., via the selected preamble associated with the PRACH occasion), and the MsgA PUSCH occasion with an associated DMRS resource. In an example, for a first transmission of the MsgA, if the transmission not being made for the CCCH logical channel, the wireless device may indicate to the Multiplexing and assembly entity to include a C-RNTI MAC CE in the MsgA payload (or MsgA MAC PDU). In an example, the Multiplexing and assembly entity may include beam failure recovery (BFR) MAC CE in the MsgA payload if the RA procedure is triggered for SpCell beam failure recovery and spCell-BFR-CBRA with value true is configured. The wireless device may obtain the MsgA MAC PDU to transmit the MsgA payload from the Multiplexing and assembly entity according to the HARQ information determined for the MsgA payload and store it in a buffer (e.g., the MsgA buffer).

The selection of the SSB 2020 may be performed based on determining that whether one or more CFRA type resources associated with SSBs are explicitly provided via the RRC configuration parameters (e.g., in rach-ConfigDedicated) and at least one SSB with SS-RSRP above msgA-RSRP-ThresholdSSB amongst the associated SSBs is available. In an example, the wireless device may select an SSB with SS-RSRP above msgA-RSRP-ThresholdSSB amongst the associated SSBs. In another example, for a CBRA preamble selection, the wireless device, based on determining that at least one of the SSBs with SS-RSRP above msgA-RSRP-ThresholdSSB is available, may select an SSB with SS-RSRP above msgA-RSRP-ThresholdSSB. In another example, based on determining that, by the wireless device, no SSB with SS-RSRP above msgA-RSRP-ThresholdSSB is available, the wireless device may select any SSB (e.g., randomly).

As FIG. 20 shows the wireless device may select a RAPs group 2030 after selecting the SSB. In an example, there may be one or more ways for the wireless device to generate one or more candidate preambles that may be used for the 2-step RA procedure. For example, a wireless device may receive, from a base station, a control message (e.g., SIB message, RRC message dedicated to the wireless device, and/or a PDCCH order) indicating one or more preamble indices of one or more RAPs to be used by the wireless device. The one or more candidate preambles may be grouped into one or more groups (e.g., RAPs group A and RAPs group B). For example, each group may be associated with a specific amount of data for transmission. For example, the amount of data may indicate a size of one or more transport blocks a wireless device being required to transmit and/or may indicate a size of uplink data being remained in the buffer. In an example, a first group (e.g., the RAPs group A) of the one or more groups may comprise RAPs indicating small data transmission(s) of transport block(s) during the 2-step RA procedure, and a second group (e.g., the RAPs group B) may comprise RAPs indicating larger data transmission(s) of transport block(s) during the 2-step RA procedure.

For example, if one or more resources for an CFRA 2-step RA type not being configured and a RAPs group not being selected, the wireless device may choose the RAPs group B based on one or more of the following conditions: whether the Random Access Preambles group B for 2-step RA type is configured, whether the potential MsgA payload size (UL data available for transmission plus MAC subheader and, where required, MAC CEs) is greater than a first configured threshold (e.g., ra-MsgA-SizeGroupA), and whether the pathloss is less than a second configured threshold. The second threshold may be calculated, by the wireless device based on one or more RACH configuration parameters 1310/1320/1330, e.g., the PCMAX of the Serving Cell performing the RA Procedure, msgA-PreambleReceivedTargetPower, msgA-DeltaPreamble, and messagePowerOffsetGroupB. In another example, if one or more resources for a CFRA 2-step RA type not being configured and a RAPs group not being selected, the wireless device may choose RAPs group B based on one or more of the following conditions: whether the RAPs group B for 2-step RA type is configured and whether the RA procedure is triggered for the CCCH logical channel. In another example, if one or more resources for a CFRA 2-step RA type being configured and a Random Access Preambles group not being selected, the wireless device may choose the RAPs group B based on one or more of the following conditions: whether the RAPs group B for 2-step RA type is configured, whether the transport block size of the MsgA payload corresponds to the transport block size of a MsgA payload associated with the RAPs group B (e.g., configured in the rach-ConfigDedicated). Otherwise, the wireless device may select the Random Access Preambles group A. In another example, the wireless device may select a Random Access Preambles group based on determining that a Random Access Preambles group is selected during the current/ongoing Random Access procedure.

As FIG. 20 shows, the wireless device may, once selecting the RAPs group, select a Random Access Preamble (RAP) 2040, e.g., based on the selected SSB and the selected RAPs group. For example, the wireless device may select the RAP (e.g., MsgA preamble) randomly with equal probability from the 2-step RA type Random Access Preambles associated with the selected SSB and the selected RAPs group. The wireless device may set the PREAMBLE_INDEX to the index of the selected MsgA preamble.

As FIG. 20 shows, the wireless device may determine an PRACH occasion 2050 from the PRACH occasions corresponding to the selected SSB. In an example, the PRACH occasion may be selected among one or more valid PRACH occasions (e.g., available for PRACH transmission). In another example, the wireless device may select the PRACH occasion randomly with equal probability among the consecutive valid PRACH occasions, corresponding to the selected SSB, allocated for 2-step RA type. In an example, the wireless device may select an PRACH occasion corresponding to the selected SSB based on one or more restrictions (e.g., one or more PRACH mask indexes). According to an example, for selecting a valid PRACH occasion corresponding to the selected SSB, the wireless device may take into account the possible occurrence of measurement gaps. According to another example, based on determining that msgA-SSB-SharedRO-MaskIndex is configured, the wireless device may select a valid PRACH occasion corresponding to the selected SSB based on one or more restrictions given by the msgA-SSB-SharedRO-MaskIndex. In another example, based on determining that ra-ssb-OccasionMaskIndex is configured, the wireless device may select a valid PRACH occasion corresponding to the selected SSB based on one or more restrictions given by the ra-ssb-OccasionMaskIndex.

In an example, the wireless device may select a first PRACH occasion indicated by a first PRACH mask index value for the first SS/PBCH block index in the first association period. The first association period may be a first mapping cycle. The wireless device may reset the one or more indexes of the one or more PRACH occasions for the first mapping cycle.

As FIG. 20 shows, the wireless device may, based on and/or after selecting the PRACH occasion, select a PUSCH occasion 2060 for transmitting the MsgA payload. In an example, based on determining that the MsgA preamble not being selected by the MAC entity among the CB RAPs, the wireless device may select a MsgA PUSCH occasion from one or more PUSCH occasions configured in msgA-CFRA-PUSCH corresponding to the PRACH slot of the selected PRACH occasion, according to msgA-PUSCH-resource-Index corresponding to the selected SSB. As FIG. 20 shows, after selecting the RA resources 2010, the wireless device may transmit the MsgA (e.g., MsgA preamble and/or MsgA payload) using the selected resources 2070. The wireless device may perform the transmission of the MsgA based on determining one or more UL grants and the associated HARQ information for the MsgA payload in the selected PUSCH occasion. In an example, the wireless device may deliver the one or more UL grants and the associated HARQ information to the HARQ entity. The wireless device may perform the MsgA transmission using the selected resources.

In another example, based on determining that the Random Access Preamble being selected by the MAC entity among the CBRA Preamble(s), the wireless device may select a PUSCH occasion corresponding to the selected preamble and PRACH occasion, e.g., based on the mapping between PUSCH occasion (with an associated DMRS resource) and PRACH occasion. As FIG. 20 shows, after selecting the RA resources 2010, the wireless device may perform the transmission of MsgA (e.g., MsgA PRACH and MsgA PUSCH) using the selected resources 2070. The wireless device, based on the selected PUSCH occasion, may determine the UL grant for the MsgA payload according to the PUSCH configuration associated with the selected Random Access Preambles group and determine the associated HARQ information. In an example, if the selected preamble and PRACH occasion is mapped to a valid PUSCH occasion, the wireless device may deliver the UL grant and the associated HARQ information to the HARQ entity.

A non-terrestrial network (NTN) network (e.g., a satellite network) may be a network or network segment that uses a space-borne vehicle to embark a transmission equipment relay node (e.g., radio remote unit) or a base station (e.g., an NTN base station). While a terrestrial network is a network located on the surface of the earth, an NTN may be a network which uses an NTN node (e.g., satellite) as an access network, a backhaul interface network, or both. In an example, an NTN may comprise one or more NTN nodes/space-borne vehicles. An NTN node may embark a bent pipe payload (e.g., transparent payload) or a regenerative payload. The NTN node with transparent payload may comprise transmitter/receiver circuitries without the capability of on-board digital signal processing (e.g., modulation and coding). The NTN node may comprise a regenerative payload transmitter/receiver with the on-board processing used to demodulate and decode the received signal and/or regenerate the signal before sending it back to the earth.

In an example, the NTN node may be a satellite, a balloon, an air ship, a high-altitude platform station (HAPS), an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), and the like. FIG. 21 is an example figure of different types of NTN platforms/nodes. In an example, a satellite may be placed into a low-earth orbit (LEO) at an altitude between 250 km to 1500 km, with orbital periods ranging from 90-130 minutes. From the perspective of a given point on the surface of the earth, the position of the LEO satellite may change. In an example, a satellite may be placed into a medium-earth orbit (MEO) at an altitude between 5000 to 20000 km, with orbital periods ranging from 2 hours to 14 hours. In an example, a satellite may be placed into a geostationary satellite earth orbit (GEO) at 35,786 km altitude, and directly above the equator. From the perspective of a given point on the surface of the earth, the position of the GEO may not move.

FIG. 22 shown an example of an NTN with a transparent NTN platform/node. In an example, the NTN node (e.g., a satellite) may forward a received signal from another satellite (e.g., over inter-link satellite communication links) or a gateway on the ground (e.g., over the feeder communication link) back to the earth (e.g., a base station). The NTN node may forward a received signal from a wireless device on the earth to another NTN node or a gateway on the ground (e.g., a base station). The signal may be forwarded back with amplification and/or a shift between service link frequency (point or a bandwidth) and feeder link frequency. In an example, an NTN base station may be a regenerative NTN node (e.g., satellite). In another example, an NTN base station may be a ground base station (e.g., gNB) connecting to a transparent satellite (or NTN node) via feeder link.

An NTN may generate one or more beams over a given area (e.g., a coverage area or a cell). The footprint of a beam (or a cell) may be referred to as a spotbeam. For example, the footprint of a cell/beam may move over the Earth's surface with the satellite movement. The footprint of a cell/beam may be Earth fixed with some beam pointing mechanism used by the satellite to compensate for its motion. As shown in FIG. 21 , the size of a spotbeam may depend on the system design and may range from tens of kilometers to a few thousand kilometers.

In an example, a propagation delay (e.g., between a satellite and the ground or between multiple satellites) may be the amount of time it takes for the head of the signal to travel from a sender to a receiver or vice versa. For uplink, the sender may be a wireless device and the receiver may be a base station/access network. For downlink, the sender may be a base station/access network and the receiver may be a wireless device. The propagation delay may vary depending on a distance between the sender and the receiver, e.g., due to movement of the NTN node, movement of the wireless device, and/or feeder link switching.

FIG. 23 shows examples of propagation delay corresponding to NTNs of different altitudes. The propagation delay in the figure may be one-way latency. In an example, one-way latency may be an amount of time required to propagate through a telecommunication system from a terminal to the receiver (e.g., base station). In an example shown in FIG. 22 , for the transparent NTN, the round-trip propagation delay (RTD) may comprise service link delay (e.g., between the NTN node and the wireless device), feeder link delay (e.g., between the NTN gateway and the NTN node), and/or between the gateway and the base station in the case the gateway and the base station are not collocated. From FIG. 23 , in case of GEO satellite with transparent payload the RTD may be four times of 138.9 milliseconds (approximately 556 milliseconds). In an example, a RTD of a terrestrial network (e.g., NR, E-UTRA, LTE) may be negligible compared to the RTD of an NTN scenario. The RTD of a terrestrial network may be less than 1 millisecond. In an example, the RTD of a GEO satellite may be hundreds of times longer than the one of terrestrial network. A maximum RTD of a LEO satellite with transparent payload with altitude of 600 km may be 25.77 milliseconds. The differential RTD may be 3.12 milliseconds. In an example, for a LEO satellite with transparent payload with altitude of 1200 km, the maximum RTD of may be 41.77 milliseconds. The differential RTD may be 3.18 milliseconds.

As shown in FIG. 22 , the differential RTD within a beam/cell of the satellite may be calculated based on the maximum diameter of the beam/cell footprint at nadir (e.g., the maximum delay link). In an example, the differential RTD may imply the difference between communication latency that two wireless devices, e.g., a second wireless device (UE2) that is located close to the edge of the cell/beam and a first wireless device (UE1) that is located close to the center of the cell/beam, may experience while communicating with an NTN node. The first wireless device may experience a smaller RTD compared to the second wireless device. The link with maximum propagation delay may experience higher propagation delay than UE1 and UE2 in the cell/beam. The link to a cell/beam center may experience the minimum propagation delay in the cell/beam.

FIG. 22 also shows several examples of a reference point in an NTN architecture. In an example, the base station may configure the reference point at the cell/beam center (Case1). In an example of Case1, the reference point may be on the ground and have an altitude larger than all the wireless devices in the cell/beam in order to make sure that the propagation delay to the reference point stays the smallest propagation delay in the cell/beam. In another example, the base station may configure the reference point at the NTN node (Case2). In another example, the base station may configure the reference point within the feeder link between the NTN node and the gateway (Case3). In another example, the base station may configure the reference point at the gateway (Case4). In another example, the base station may configure the reference point at the base station (Case5). The reference point of an NTN may be provided to one or more wireless devices in order to facilitate the estimation of the propagation delay (e.g., in the service link) via one or more measurements by a wireless device.

In an example, the propagation delay between the base station and the reference point in FIG. 22 may be considered as common delay of the cell/beam (e.g., the delay that is experienced by all the wireless devices in the cell/beam). The base station may provide the value of the common delay to all wireless devices in the cell/beam via broadcast signaling (e.g., SIB1) allowing the wireless devices (e.g., with GNSS capability) to estimate their corresponding RTD through conducting/performing the one or more measurements. In another example, for one or more wireless devices that do not support GNSS capability (or their location estimation may not be accurate), the base station may configure the common delay equal to the maximum link of the cell/beam (see FIG. 22 ). In another example, the one or more measurements may allow the wireless devices to estimate/calculate the RTD or a portion of RTD via timestamp of a configured broadcast signal.

In an example, the NTN may provide resources/signaling in order to compensate for the changes that may happen to the value of the common delay as a result of the movement of the NTN node (e.g., LEO satellite), feeder link switch, or the change in the location of the reference point (e.g., Case 3 in FIG. 22 ).

Transmissions from different wireless devices in a cell/beam may need to be time-aligned at the base station and/or the NTN node (e.g., satellite) to maintain uplink orthogonality. Time alignment may be achieved by using different timing advance (TA) values at different wireless devices to compensate for their different propagation delays/RTDs. In an example, a wireless device may be configured to pre-compensate only part of the RTD, e.g., depending on the location of the reference point (Case1 to Case5 in FIG. 22 ). For example, when the reference point is located over the feeder link (Case3 in FIG. 22 ) the base station may partially pre-compensate the delay (between the base station and the reference point) and leave the compensation of the delay from the reference point to the wireless device to the wireless device.

For example, the wireless device may be provided by the orbital movement of the satellites (e.g., ephemeris of the satellites) or other required information. The ephemeris of the satellite may provide the wireless device with the movement pattern of the satellite allowing the wireless device to estimate the service link delay or the TA value over a time period. In an example, the ephemeris may be periodically broadcasted by the satellite along with an indication indicating the rate by which the TA calculations carried out by the wireless device using the ephemeris should be updated in order to account for the movement of the satellite.

Random access (RA) procedures may be used to establish communications between a wireless device and an NTN base station (e.g., initial access), synchronization, beam failure recovery, handover, and/or BSR. Prior to initiation of a RA procedure, a base station (e.g., an NTN base station) may transmit one or more RRC messages to configure the wireless device with one or more parameters of RACH configuration. The base station may broadcast or multicast the one or more RRC messages to one or more wireless devices. The one or more RRC messages may be wireless device-specific messages, e.g., dedicated RRC messages transmitted to a wireless device in RRC INACTIVE or RRC CONNECTED. For example, the one or more configuration parameters may indicate at least one of followings: PRACH resource allocation, preamble format, SSB information (e.g., total number of SSBs, downlink resource allocation of SSB transmission, transmission power of SSB transmission, and/or other information), and uplink radio resources for one or more transport block transmissions (e.g., UL grant).

FIG. 24 is an example diagram illustrating a 2-step RA procedure performed between a wireless device and a base station. At time TO the wireless device may trigger an RA procedure (e.g., via PDCCH order or the higher layers order). Prior to performing the 2-step RA procedure, the wireless device may, following the procedure discussed in FIG. 19 , select a carrier (SUL or NUL), select the type of the triggered RA procedure (2-step RA type or 4-step RA type), and initialize one or more RA parameters/variables specific to the selected RA type. In the example shown in FIG. 24 , it is assumed that the wireless device is selected the 2-step RA type (e.g., RA_TYPE=2-stepRA), for example, based on an RSRP threshold. The wireless device, following the RA resource selection procedure 2010, may select one or more resources for performing the 2-step RA procedure. The RA resource selection procedure may indicate a radio resource comprising at least a valid PRACH occasion (resource) and a MsgA PUSCH occasion (resource) mapped to the valid PRACH occasion for a MsgA transmission. The wireless device may use the valid PRACH occasion and the MsgA PUSCH occasion for transmitting a MsgA with respect to the 2-step RA procedure. In an example, the one or more resources may comprise an SSB index, a RAPs group, a preamble index, the valid PRACH occasion, and the MsgA PUSCH occasion. The wireless device may transmit the MsgA using the selected PRACH occasion (e.g., via a preamble with the preamble index associated with the PRACH occasion), and the MsgA PUSCH occasion with an associated DMRS resource.

In the example shown in FIG. 24 , the 2-step RA procedure between the wireless device and the NTN base station may comprise of transmitting, by the wireless device, the MsgA comprising the preamble and a MsgA payload carrying one or more TBs. For example, the one or more TBs may comprise one of data, security information, device information such as IMSI/TMSI, and/or other information such as BSR MAC CE and/or TAC MAC CE. For example, the one or more TBs may comprise a wireless device identifier (ID) that may be used for a contention resolution. For example, the identifier may be a C-RNTI (e.g., for a wireless device with RRC Connected). The wireless device may indicate the C-RNTI to the base station based on a particular message format that may be predefined. In an example, the MsgA payload may comprise a C-RNTI MAC CE (e.g., 16 bits fields indicate the C-RNTI) with an LCID in a subheader corresponding to the C-RNTI MAC CE. The LCID may be used for a base station to identify (detect, parse, and/or decode) the C-RNTI MAC CE from a received signal or message (e.g., MAC PDU) transmitted from the wireless device. In another example, the one or more TBs may comprise a CCCH SDU. The CCCH SDU may comprise an RRC (re)establishment request, an RRC setup request, and/or an RRC resume request.

In the DL transmission of the 2-step RA procedure, the base station may transmit MsgB (e.g., a RAR corresponding to the MsgA) that may comprise at least one of following: a timing advance command (TAC MAC CE) indicating the TA value, a power control command, an UL grant (e.g., radio resource assignment, and/or MCS), an identifier for contention resolution, an RNTI (e.g., C-RNTI or TC-RNTI), and/or other information. In another example, the MsgB may comprise a RAPID corresponding to the MsgA preamble in FIG. 24 , a positive or negative acknowledgement of a reception of the MsgA payload, an implicit and/or explicit indication of a successful decoding of the one or more TBs, an indication of fallback to a 4-step RA procedure (e.g., CBRA procedure in FIG. 13A or CFRA procedure in FIG. 13B), and/or combination thereof.

In an example, the wireless device may start a (variable) RAR window after the transmission of the MsgA. In an example, the (variable) RAR window may be extended by an offset to account for a long propagation delay in NTN. Due to movement of the NTN node (e.g., a LEO satellite) the propagation delay may change. In an example, the wireless device may accordingly extend the length of the RAR window by the offset. A potential drawback of extending the RAR window by the offset may be an increase in processing power of the wireless device (e.g., for monitoring one or more downlink control channels).

As FIG. 24 shows, the wireless device may start the RAR window by an offset (T_offset) to account for the long propagation delay without increasing the power consumption of the wireless device (e.g., compared to a terrestrial network scenario) for monitoring PDCCH. In an example, the offset (T_offset in FIG. 24 ) may be configured by the base station via broadcast channel (e.g., SIB1). In another example, the offset may be configured by the base station via MAC CE or a DCI. In another example, the wireless device may obtain the offset based on (or as a function of) the propagation delay between the wireless device and an NTN node (e.g., the base station). In an example, the offset may be obtained, by the wireless device, based on a portion of the propagation delay between the wireless device and an NTN node (e.g., service link delay). In another example, the wireless device may set the offset time autonomously at least based one or more measurements. In an example, the one or more measurements may be carried out to measure the propagation delay of the service link (e.g., between the wireless device and the NTN node). In another example, the one or more measurements may be carried out to measure a portion of the propagation belay between the wireless device and the base station, e.g., by measuring the propagation belay between the wireless device and a configured reference point. In an example, the one or more measurements may comprise measuring the geographical location of the wireless device.

In an example, the wireless device may receive and/or detect, via the downlink control channel during the RAR window, a PDCCH addressed to the C-RNTI. The PDCCH may comprise a DCI indicating a downlink assignment of PDSCH. In an example, the DCI may be a particular DCI whose format being predefined, for example, a DCI format 1_0 or a DCI format 1_1. The wireless device may receive and/or decode the PDSCH based on the downlink assignment. The physical layer may decode the PDSCH and send the decoded data to the MAC entity in the form of a MAC PDU. The wireless device may identify a response (e.g., a MsgB) to the MsgA in the MAC PDU. In an example, the response to the Msg A may comprise an explicit or implicit indicator that indicates a success RAR or a fallback RAR. The wireless device may identify the type of RAR based on a format of the received RAR. For example, the success RAR and the fallback RAR may comprise one or more different types and/or sizes of fields based on which the wireless device may identify the type of RAR.

In an example, the wireless device may attempt to receive and/or decode the PDSCH based on the downlink assignment. The downlink assignment may indicate parameters based on which the wireless device receives the PDSCH. For example, the downlink assignment may indicate at least one of following: a frequency domain resource assignment indicator (e.g., in terms of one or more frequency offsets), a time domain resource assignment indicator (e.g., in terms of OFDM symbol and/or slot offsets from a reception timing of the PDCCH, and/or duration of the PDSCH transmission), modulation and coding scheme, redundancy version indicator, a downlink assignment index, PUCCH resource indicator for ACK/NACK transmission of a reception of the PDSCH, transmit power control command of scheduled PUCCH for the ACK/NACK transmission, PDSCH-toHARQ feedback (e.g., the ACK/NACK transmission) timing indicator.

In an example, the wireless device may stop monitoring the downlink channel (e.g., stopping the RAR window) based on receiving, by the wireless device, at least one response, e.g., a PDCCH addressed to the C-RNTI and/or a PDCCH addressed to the MSG-RNTI. The wireless device may determine that a contention resolution being successful based on one or more conditions. For example, the wireless device may determine that a contention resolution being successful based on detecting a PDCCH addressed to the C-RNTI, included in the Msg A, where indicating a PDSCH (e.g., via a downlink assignment of a DCI) comprising a TA command. For example, the wireless device may determine that a contention resolution being successful based on determining that a PDCCH addressed to the C-RNTI included in the Msg A being detected, indicating a PDSCH (e.g., via a downlink assignment of a DCI) comprising an UL grant (e.g., if the wireless device is already synchronized). The PDCCH addressed to the C-RNTI may be an indication of a success response. In an example, the wireless device may consider (or determine) that the 2-step RA procedure being successfully completed based on one or more conditions. At least one of the one or more conditions may be that the MsgB being comprised of a preamble index (or identifier) matching to the MsgA preamble that the wireless device transmitted to the base station. At least one of the one or more conditions may be that the MsgB being comprised and/or indicated a contention resolution identifier matched to the identifier that the wireless device transmitted to the base station for the contention resolution. In an example, the wireless device may determine that the ongoing 2-step RA procedure successfully completed based on detecting a PDCCH addressed to the C-RNTI, included in the Msg A, where indicating a PDSCH (e.g., via a downlink assignment of a DCI) comprising a TA command.

In an example, the wireless device may successfully receive (and/or detect) the PDCCH addressed to the C-RNTI that wireless device transmitted to the base station but may fail to decode the PDSCH received based on the downlink assignment. The problem in this case is that the wireless device may not transmit a negative acknowledgement (NACK) (e.g., NACK indication using UCI) to the base station in response to determining that the wireless device may not have a valid TA value available for the transmission of the NACK. For example, the wireless device may not transmit a NACK indicating (e.g., using UCI) the reception of the PDSCH to the base station is response to a TA timer of the wireless device being expired. The TA timer of the wireless device may start (or restart) after or in response to receiving a TA command prior to the transmission of the Msg A. The wireless device may not transmit a NACK indication (e.g., using UCI) of a reception of the PDSCH to the base station, if no TA value has been received or the TA timer (e.g., timeAlignmentTimer) not being running or expired. This may be a case that the wireless device cannot transmit a transport block (or packet, PUSCH) or a control signal (e.g., UCI and/or PUCCH) to the base station after or in response to determining (or identifying), based on detecting a PDCCH addressed to C-RNTI, that a contention resolution being successful (or the base station received Msg A successfully).

FIG. 25 provides an example of a 2-step RA procedure performed between a wireless device and an NTN base station. At time TO the wireless device may trigger an RA procedure (e.g., via PDCCH order or the higher layers order). Prior to performing the 2-step RA procedure, the wireless device may, following the procedure discussed in FIG. 19 , select a carrier (SUL or NUL), select the type of the triggered RA procedure (2-step RA type or 4-step RA type), and initialize one or more RA parameters/variables specific to the selected RA type. In the example shown in FIG. 25 , it is assumed that the wireless device is selected the 2-step RA type (e.g., RA_TYPE=2-stepRA), for example, based on an RSRP threshold. The wireless device, following the RA resource selection procedure 2010, may select one or more resources for performing the 2-step RA procedure. The RA resource selection procedure may indicate a valid PRACH occasion and a MsgA PUSCH occasion mapped to the valid PRACH occasion. The wireless device may use the valid PRACH occasion and the MsgA PUSCH occasion for transmitting a MsgA with respect to the 2-step RA procedure. In an example, the one or more resources may comprise an SSB index, a RAPs group, a preamble index, the valid PRACH occasion, and the MsgA PUSCH occasion. The wireless device may transmit the MsgA using the selected PRACH occasion (e.g., via the selected preamble associated with the PRACH occasion), and the MsgA PUSCH occasion with an associated DMRS resource.

In the example shown in FIG. 25 , the wireless device may determine that the MsgA PUSCH occasion that the PRACH occasion (or the preamble) is mapped to is invalid. One or more invalidity rules may be used to determine whether the MsgA PUSCH occasion is invalid. In an example, the one or more invalidity rules may indicate that the MsgA PUSCH occasion is invalid based on one or more symbols of the MsgA PUSCH occasion being overlapped (e.g., in time and frequency) with one or more PRACH occasions. In another example, the one or more invalidity rules may indicate that the MsgA PUSCH occasion is invalid based on the first symbol of the PUSCH occasion being started with a gap (in number of symbols) that is smaller than M_gap (e.g., provided in FIG. 17C) from the last symbol of the selected PRACH occasion. In another example, the one or more invalidity rules may indicate that, in TDD operation, the MsgA PUSCH occasion is invalid if one or more symbols of the MsgA PUSCH occasion overlap with DL symbols. In an example, for unpaired spectrum and for SS/PBCH blocks (e.g., with indexes provided by ssb-PositionsInBurst in SIB1 or by ServingCellConfigCommon), regardless of whether the wireless device is provided tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon or not, the one or more invalidity rules may indicate that the MsgA PUSCH occasion is invalid based on the MsgA PUSCH occasion being preceded a SS/PBCH block in the PUSCH slot that the MsgA PUSCH occasion belongs to. In another example, if the wireless device is not provided tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon, the one or more invalidity rules may indicate that the MsgA PUSCH occasion is invalid if the MsgA PUSCH occasion starts less than N_gap symbols after a last SS/PBCH block symbol, where N_gap is provided in FIG. 17B. In an example, if a wireless device is provided tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon, the one or more invalidity rules may indicate that the MsgA PUSCH occasion is invalid if the PUSCH occasion proceeds a SS/PBCH block in the PUSCH slot that the PUSCH occasion belongs to. According to another example, if a wireless device is provided tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon, the one or more invalidity rules may indicate that the MsgA PUSCH occasion is invalid if the PUSCH occasion starts less than N_gap symbols after a last downlink symbol, where N_gap is provided in FIG. 17B.

As shown in FIG. 25 , the wireless device, based on the MsgA PUSCH occasion mapped to the PRACH occasion being invalid, may transmit the preamble associated with the selected valid PRACH occasion, e.g., by not transmitting the MsgA PUSCH/payload. In an example, the wireless device, based on the MsgA PUSCH occasion not being transmitted (e.g., due to invalidity of the MsgA PUSCH occasion), may start the RAR window by the offset from the last symbol of the preamble (or the PRACH occasion) for monitoring PDCCH.

In an example, the wireless device may monitor PDCCH(s) to receive a contention resolution message during the RAR window is running. For example, the wireless device may monitor a PDCCH addressed to the MSGB-RNTI for a failure (or fallback) response to the MsgA preamble, e.g., based on determining that the wireless device only transmits the MsgA preamble. In an example, the response to the MsgA preamble may comprise an explicit or implicit indicator that indicates a fallback RAR (e.g., fallbackRAR MAC subPDU). The PDCCH (e.g., DCI with a downlink assignment) may comprise a downlink assignment based on which the wireless device may be scheduled a PDSCH comprising the fallback response. The PDSCH may comprise one or more responses. The wireless device may identify a response from the one or more responses based on one or more identifiers. For example, the wireless device may identify a response from the one or more responses based on determining that an identifier of the response being matched to a preamble index of the MsgA preamble.

In an example, the wireless device may stop monitoring for detecting a PDCCH addressed to the C-RNTI in response to receiving, by the wireless device, a fallback response. In this case, the contention resolution may not be successful, and the wireless device may fall back to Msg 3 transmission based on fallback operation. The fallback response may comprise an UL grant indicating uplink radio resource(s) where the wireless device may use to transmit the Msg 3 based on the fallback operation. The wireless device may determine that the MsgB reception being failed in response to neither receiving the fallback response nor detecting a PDCCH addressed C-RNTI within the RAR window. The wireless device, in this case, may perform a back off operation based on the backoff indicator in response to receiving the backoff indicator via MsgB.

In an example, based on determining that the MsgB comprises the fallbackRAR MAC subPDU and the Random Access Preamble (RAP) matches the preamble index (e.g., PREAMBLE_INDEX), the wireless device may consider the RAR reception successful. In an example, if the serving cell is the SpCell, the wireless device may perform the following: process the received timing advance command (e.g., TAC MAC CE), indicate the msgA-PreambleReceivedTargetPower and the amount of power ramping applied to the latest RAP transmission to the lower layers (e.g., the physical layer). In an example, thwas not selected by the MAC entity among the CBRA Preamble(s), the wireless device may consider the ongoing 2-step RA procedure successfully completed. In an example, the wireless device may and UL grant for transmission of Msg3 and indicate it to the lower layers (e.g., physical layer). In an example, the wireless device may. In another example, based on determining that the MsgB comprises the fallbackRAR MAC subPDU and the Random Access Preamble (RAP) was selected by the MAC entity among the CBRA Preamble(s), the wireless device may

In an example, the wireless device may receive the Msg B indicating a retransmission of the at least one transport block. For example, the Msg B indicating a retransmission of the at least one transport block may comprise an UL grant indicating uplink resource(s) used for the retransmission of the at least one transport block.

A wireless device may trigger a random access (RA) procedure in a serving cell in response to, e.g., beam failure recovery, buffer status reporting, timing advance reporting, or the like. The wireless device may initiate a 2-step random access (RA) procedure, e.g., based on an RSRP of an SSB being larger than a configured threshold. For the 2-step RA procedure, the wireless device may select one or more resources for performing the initiated 2-step RA procedure. The one or more resources may comprise at least a PRACH occasion and a MsgA PUSCH occasion that is mapped to the PRACH occasion. Using the selected resources, the wireless device may transmit a MsgA comprising a preamble and a MsgA payload.

In existing technologies, when the MsgA PUSCH occasion is invalid (e.g., due to overlapping with one or more PRACH occasions) the wireless device may transmit the preamble (e.g., cancel/drop the transmission of the MsgA payload). In an example, the base station, based on detecting the preamble (and not receiving the MsgA payload), may schedule a transmission of the MsgA payload via Msg3. The assignment may be received by the wireless device via a fallbackRAR UL grant in MsgB, e.g., when the wireless device is monitoring PDCCH during a RAR window. In an NTN scenario with a long propagation delay (e.g., about 20 ms in a LEO satellite scenario), the RAR window for receiving the fallbackRAR UL grant in the MsgB may be started by the offset, which is proportional to the propagation delay. When the MsgA PUSCH occasion is invalid and the wireless device transmit the preamble, based on existing technologies, the wireless device may suffer from a long transmission latency for transmitting the MsgA payload (e.g., instead of transmitting the MsgA payload via MsgA PUSCH occasion, the wireless device needs to transmit the MsgA payload via Msg3). In an NTN scenario with a long propagation delay, there is a need to improve the 2-step RA procedure in order to reduce the transmission latency of the MsgA payload.

In an example, a wireless device communicating with an NTN node (e.g., a base station) may trigger a random access (RA) procedure in a serving cell in response to, e.g., beam failure recovery, buffer status reporting, timing advance reporting, or the like. The wireless device may initiate a 2-step random access (RA) procedure, e.g., based on an RSRP of an SSB being larger than a configured RSRP threshold. For the 2-step RA procedure, the wireless device may select a first radio resource comprising one or more resources for performing the initiated 2-step RA procedure. The one or more resources may comprise at least a PRACH occasion and a MsgA PUSCH occasion that is mapped to the PRACH occasion. Using the selected resources, the wireless device may transmit a MsgA comprising a preamble and a MsgA payload corresponding to the first radio resource. In response to the MsgA PUSCH occasion being invalid (e.g., due to overlapping with one or more PRACH occasions), the wireless device may transmit the preamble (e.g., cancel the MsgA payload transmission). In an example, the wireless device may wait for a fallbackRAR UL grant received from a MsgB to transmit the MsgA payload via Msg3. In an NTN scenario with a long propagation delay, transmission of the MsgA payload via Msg3 may not be efficient, leading to a large transmission latency of the 2-step RA procedure (e.g., at least proportional to the propagation delay).

Based on certain aspects of the present disclosure, a wireless device may improve RA resource selection procedure in order to improve the data transmission latency/access latency of a 2-step RA procedure. In an example embodiment, based on the MsgA PUSCH occasion being invalidated, the wireless device may (re)perform the RA resource selection (prior to performing the MsgA transmission) to select a second radio resource. In an example, the second radio resource may comprise at least a second PRACH occasion and a second MsgA PUSCH occasion that is mapped to the second PRACH occasion. Based on the second radio resource being validated and the time difference between the second radio resource and the first radio resource being smaller than a threshold (e.g., as a function of the propagation delay or the offset), the wireless device may transmit the MsgA payload using the second radio resource. Example embodiments of the present disclosure may reduce the data transmission latency/access latency of the 2-step RA procedure in an NTN scenario.

Based on certain aspects of the present disclosure, the wireless device may improve the data transmission latency/access latency of a 2-step RA procedure by partially transmitting the MsgA payload. According to an example embodiment, the wireless device by determining that at least one symbol of the MsgA PUSCH occasion is within a window started from a last symbol of a resource (e.g., SS/PBCH block), the wireless device may partially transmit the MsgA payload by not transmitting the at least one symbol. In an example embodiment, based on the at least one symbol being within the window and time difference to the transmission time of the MsgA payload being smaller than the threshold, the wireless device may transmit the one or more symbols that are not overlapped with the window (e.g., partially transmitting the MsgA payload). By partially transmitting the MsgA payload, the wireless device may improve the data transmission latency in an expense of (possibly) increasing the base station processing complexity (e.g., for decoding the partially transmitted MsgA payload).

In an example embodiment, in order to not substantially increase the base station processing complexity (e.g., for decoding the partially transmitted MsgA payload), one or more conditions may be fulfilled by the wireless device to partially transmit the MsgA payload. According to an example embodiment, the one or more conditions may imply that at most one preamble being mapped to the MsgA PUSCH occasion. Based on determining that at most one preamble is mapped to the MsgA PUSCH occasion and the time difference to the MsgA PUSCH occasion is smaller than the threshold, the wireless device may partially transmit the MsgA payload, allowing the base station to decode the partially transmitted MsgA payload based on the detected preamble corresponding to the PRACH occasion.

According to an example embodiment, the one or more conditions may imply that 1) at least two symbols of the MsgA PUSCH occasion not being overlapped with the window, 2) at least one symbol out of the at least two symbols not being assigned to a DM-RS, and 3) at least one symbol of the MsgA PUSCH occasion assigned to the DM-RS not being overlapped with the window. By partially transmitting the MsgA payload, based on the one or more conditions being fulfilled, the base station's processing complexity for decoding the partially transmitted MsgA payload may not substantially be increased, e.g., by using the DM-RS of the partially transmitted MsgA payload.

In an example embodiment, the base station may decode the partially transmitted MsgA payload, based on determining that the preamble being detected and not being mapped to the valid MsgA PUSCH occasion. In an example, the base station may decode one or more symbols of the MsgA payload that are transmitted by the wireless device. In another example, the base station based on determining that the preamble (or the PRACH occasion) is mapped to at most one DM-RS resource, may improve the decoding of the MsgA PUSCH. In another example, the base station may use at least one DM-RS symbol of the partially transmitted MsgA payload to improve the decoding of the MsgA PUSCH.

Based on aspects of this disclosure the wireless device may improve the 2-step RA procedure in order to improve the data transmission latency of the 2-step RA procedure. In an example embodiment, based on determining that the MsgA PUSCH comprises a first hop and a second hop, and the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion being invalidated and the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion being validated, the wireless device may transmit the MsgA using the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion. The transmission of the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion may be based on determining that the time to the last symbol of the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion is smaller than the threshold. The wireless device, based on transmitting the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion (e.g., not using the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion), may improve the data transmission latency as an expense of reducing the diversity gain of the MsgA payload. Example embodiments of this disclosure may reduce the data transmission latency/access latency of the 2-step RA procedure.

In an example embodiment, based on determining that the MsgA PUSCH comprises a first hop and a second hop, and the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion being invalidated and the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion being validated, the wireless device may transmit the MsgA using the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion. The transmission of the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion may be based on determining that the time to the last symbol of the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion is smaller than the threshold. The wireless device, based on transmitting the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion, may improve the data transmission latency as an expense of reducing the diversity gain of the MsgA payload. Example embodiments of this disclosure may reduce the data transmission latency/access latency of the 2-step RA procedure.

According to an example embodiment, the base station may require decoding the first hop or the second hop of the transmitted MsgA payload, based on determining that the preamble being detected, the preamble not being mapped to the valid MsgA PUSCH occasion, and the MsgA payload transmission being configured, by the base station, with the first hop and the second hop. In an example embodiment, the base station may decode the first hop of the MsgA payload and ignore the decoding of the second hop of the MsgA payload, based on determining that the MsgA PUSCH occasion being invalid. In an example embodiment, the base station may not decode the first hop of the MsgA payload and attempt decoding the second hop of the MsgA payload, based on determining that the MsgA PUSCH occasion being invalid.

FIG. 26 shows an example embodiment of a 2-step RA procedure performed between a wireless device and an NTN base station. The wireless device may receive one or more downlink signals indicating one or more RRC configuration parameters. The one or more RRC configuration parameters may indicate one or more RACH configuration parameters 2600. The wireless device may trigger an RA procedure. Prior to performing the 2-step RA procedure, the wireless device may select a carrier (SUL or NUL), select the type of the triggered RA procedure (2-step RA type or 4-step RA type), and initialize one or more RA parameters/variables. In the example shown in FIG. 26 , it is assumed that the wireless device selects the 2-step RA type (e.g., RA_TYPE=2-stepRA) 2601, for example, based on an RSRP threshold. In an example, the one or more parameters/variables may be specific to the selected RA type. In an example, the one or more parameters/variables may comprise a preamble counter value (e.g., PREAMBLE_TRANSMISSION_COUNTER) and/or a power ramping counter value (e.g., PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_COUNTER).

As shown in FIG. 26 , based on and/or in response to initiating the 2-step RA procedure, the wireless device, following the RA resource selection procedure 2010, may select a first radio resource for transmitting a first MsgA 2610. The first radio resource may comprise one or more resources for performing the 2-step RA procedure. According to the RA resource selection procedure (e.g., shown in FIG. 20 ), the one or more resources may indicate a first SSB index, a first RAPs group, a first preamble index, a first valid PRACH occasion, and a first MsgA PUSCH occasion. In an example, the first radio resource may comprise the first valid PRACH occasion and the first MsgA PUSCH occasion mapped to the first valid PRACH occasion.

As shown in FIG. 26 , the wireless device may determine that the first radio resource is invalid 2620. In an example, the first radio resource is invalid based on determining, by the wireless device, that the first MsgA PUSCH occasion is invalid. In an example, the one or more invalidity rules may be used to determine whether the first MsgA PUSCH occasion is invalid. In an example, based on the first radio resource being invalidated 2620, the wireless device may not transmit the first MsgA. As shown in FIG. 26 , based on the first radio resource being invalidated, the wireless device may select a second radio resource 2630.

In an example, in response to not transmitting the first MsgA, the wireless device may use the preamble counter value for selecting the second radio resource. In another example, in response to not transmitting the first MsgA, the wireless device may use the power ramping counter value for selecting the second radio resource.

The wireless device, following the RA resource selection procedure 2010, may select the second radio resource for transmitting a second MsgA. In an example, the second MsgA may be different than the first MsgA. The second radio resource may comprise one or more resources for performing the 2-step RA procedure.

In an example, the wireless device may use the RA resource selection procedure (e.g., shown in FIG. 20 ) to select the second radio resource. In an example, one or more resources for performing the 2-step RA procedure, corresponding to the second radio resource, may indicate a second SSB index, a second RAPs group, a second preamble index, a second valid PRACH occasion, a the second MsgA PUSCH occasion. In an example, the second radio resource may comprise the second valid PRACH occasion and the second MsgA PUSCH occasion mapped to the second valid PRACH occasion.

In an example, the second SSB may be different than the first SSB. In another example, the second SSB may be the first SSB.

In an example, the second RAPs group may be the first RAPs group.

In an example, the second preamble index may be selected to be different than the first preamble index. In another example, the second preamble index may be selected randomly corresponding to the second SSB. In an example, the second preamble index may be the first preamble index.

In an example, the second valid PRACH occasion may be selected to be different than the first valid PRACH occasion. For example, the second PRACH occasion may be selected to be TDMed with the first PRACH occasion. In another example, the second PRACH occasion may be selected from a PRACH slot that the first PRACH occasion does not belong to. In another example, the second PRACH occasion may be the first PRACH occasion.

In an example, the second MsgA PUSCH occasion may be different than the first MsgA PUSCH occasion. In an example, the wireless device may select the second MsgA PUSCH occasion not being FDMed with the first MsgA PUSCH occasion. In another example, the wireless device may select the second MsgA PUSCH occasion to be in different PUSCH slot that the first MsgA PUSCH belongs to.

As shown in FIG. 26 , in response to selecting the second radio resource, the wireless device may validate the second radio resource 2640, e.g., by validating the second MsgA PUSCH occasion. In an example, the validating procedure for the second MsgA PUSCH occasion may be based on the one or more invalidity rules.

Based on the second MsgA PUSCH occasion being validated, the wireless device may determine the time difference between the second radio resource and the first radio resource (e.g., a time difference condition) 2640. In an example, based on determining that the time difference is smaller than a threshold the wireless device may transmit the second MsgA using the second radio resource 2650. Based on or in response to transmitting the second MsgA, the wireless device may start a RAR window for monitoring PDCCH with the offset after the last symbol of the second MsgA PUSCH occasion.

In an example, the wireless device may not use the RA resource selection procedure (e.g., shown in FIG. 20 ) to select the second radio resource. For example, the wireless device may select the second SSB and the second RAPs group. The wireless device may select a second Msg PUSCH occasion among one or more valid MsgA PUSCH occasions that are mapped to the second SSB. In an example, in selecting the second MsgA PUSCH occasion the wireless device may determine whether the time difference condition is fulfilled or not. In case that the time difference condition is not fulfilled, the wireless device may continue searching for finding a second MsgA PUSCH occasion among one or more valid MsgA PUSCH occasions that are mapped to the second SSB. In case the time difference condition is fulfilled, the wireless device may select the second MsgA PRACH occasion that is mapped to the second MsgA PUSCH occasion. In an example, the wireless device may select the second preamble index randomly from the second PRACH occasion associated with the second RAPs group.

In another example, the wireless device may perform a search procedure (e.g., an exhaustive search or a search method based on a random search) to select the second radio resource. For example, after selecting the second SSB and the second RAPs group, the wireless device may search for a first pair of a valid PRACH occasion and a valid MsgA PUSCH occasion (that is mapped to the valid PRACH occasion and fulfils the time difference condition). In case no first pair being found, the wireless device may select another SSB and find a second pair of a valid PRACH occasion and a valid MsgA PUSCH occasion (that is mapped to the valid PRACH occasion and fulfills the time difference condition).

In an example, the threshold may be obtained, by the wireless device, based on the offset. In another example, the threshold may be configured by the base station, e.g., via RRC configuration parameters. In another example, the wireless device may set the threshold equal to the propagation delay between the wireless device and the base station e.g., the common delay or differential delay. In another example, the wireless device may set the threshold equal to a portion of the propagation delay between the wireless device and the base station e.g., the common delay or differential delay. In an example, the wireless device may determine the portion of the propagation delay via the configured reference point. In another example, the wireless device may determine the portion of the propagation delay based on the service link delay.

In an example, the wireless device by considering the time difference condition may take into account, for example, the relative time of the second MsgA payload transmission from the potential time of the first MsgA payload transmission. For example, when the second radio resource is not far from the first radio resource (e.g., larger than the common delay or larger than differential delay or larger than the offset), performing the 2-step RA procedure using the second radio resource may benefit the wireless device from a data transmission latency. For example, if the time difference between the second radio resource and the first radio resource is larger than the threshold (or the common delay), transmitting the second MsgA via the second radio resource may not be beneficial from a latency transmission perspective.

In an example, the time difference between the second radio resource and the first radio resource the wireless device may be determined based on the time difference between the last symbol of the second MsgA PUSCH occasion and the last symbol of the first PRACH occasion. In an example, the time difference between the second radio resource and the first radio resource the wireless device may be determined based on the time difference between the last symbol of the second MsgA PUSCH occasion and the last symbol of the first MsgA PUSCH occasion. In an example, the time difference between the second radio resource and the first radio resource the wireless device may be determined based on the time difference between the last symbol of the second PRACH occasion and the last symbol of the first PRACH occasion.

In an example, based on the second radio resource being invalidated, the wireless device may transmit the first MsgA corresponding to the first radio resource. In an example, the second radio resource may be invalidated due to invalidated second MsgA PUSCH occasion. In an example, the second radio resource may be invalidated in response to 1) validating the second PUSCH occasion and determining that the time difference between the second radio resource and the first radio resource is larger than the threshold. In response to and/or after transmitting the first MsgA the wireless device may start the RAR window with the offset after the last symbol of the PRACH occasion (or the first preamble).

The benefit of selecting the second radio resource and validating it prior to transmitting the second MsgA, may be the reduction of the transmission latency compered to the case that the wireless device may transmit the first MsgA (without transmitting the MsgA payload).

FIG. 27 shows an example embodiment of a 2-step RA procedure performed between a wireless device and an NTN base station. As FIG. 26 , the wireless device may receive one or more downlink signals indicating one or more RRC configuration parameters indicating the one or more RACH configuration parameters 2600. The wireless device may trigger an RA procedure. The wireless device may initiate a 2-step RA procedure 2601. In an example, the one or more parameters/variables may comprise a preamble counter value (PREAMBLE_TRANSMISSION_COUNTER) and/or a power ramping counter value (PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_COUNTER).

As shown in FIG. 27 , based on and/or in response to initiating the 2-step RA procedure, the wireless device, following the RA resource selection procedure 2010, may select a first radio resource for transmitting a first MsgA 2710. The first radio resource may comprise one or more resources for performing the 2-step RA procedure. According to the RA resource selection procedure (e.g., shown in FIG. 20 ) the one or more resources may indicate a SSB index, a RAPs group, a preamble index, a valid PRACH occasion, and a MsgA PUSCH occasion. In an example, the first radio resource may comprise the valid PRACH occasion and the MsgA PUSCH occasion mapped to the valid PRACH occasion.

As shown in FIG. 27 , the wireless device may determine that the first radio resource is invalid 2720 in response to determining that the first symbol of the MsgA PUSCH occasion is within a window. The window may be started from a last symbol of a second radio resource. The window may have a pre-configured length (e.g., N_gap in FIG. 17B or M_gap in FIG. 17C).

In an example, the second radio resource may comprise the PRACH occasion. The window may start from the last symbol of the PRACH occasion. In an example, the length of the window may be M_gap provided in FIG. 17C.

In an example, for unpaired spectrum and for SS/PBCH blocks (e.g., with indexes provided by ssb-PositionsInBurst in SIB1 or by ServingCellConfigCommon), if the wireless device is not provided tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon, the second radio resource may be a SS/PBCH block. The window may start from a last SS/PBCH block symbol. In an example, the length of the window may be N_gap provided in FIG. 17B.

According to another example, if a wireless device is provided tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon, the second radio resource may be one or more downlink slots/symbols. In an example, the window may start from the last downlink symbol. The length of the window may be provided by N_gap in FIG. 17B.

As shown in FIG. 26 , upon or based on determining the first symbol of the MsgA PUSCH occasion being within the window, the wireless device may determine that at least one symbol of the MsgA PUSCH occasion is outside the window 2720. In response to determining that the at least one symbol of the MsgA PUSCH occasion being outside the window (e.g., not overlapping with the window), the wireless device may determine that a time gap condition of the first radio resource is fulfilled 2730. In an example, the time gap condition may be fulfilled based on the time gap/difference between the first radio resource (e.g., the MsgA PUSCH occasion) and the current time (e.g., corresponding to the initiating time of the RA procedure or the triggering time of the RA procedure) being smaller than the threshold. In an example, the time gap condition may be fulfilled based on the time gap/difference between the MsgA PUSCH occasion and the time that the first radio resource is selected being smaller than the threshold. In another example, the time gap condition may be fulfilled based on the time gap/difference between the last symbol of the MsgA PUSCH occasion and the last symbol of the PRACH occasion being smaller than the threshold. In an example, the time gap condition may be fulfilled based on the time gap/difference between the PRACH occasion and the selecting time of the first radio resource being smaller than the threshold.

In an example, based on the at least one symbol of the MsgA PUSCH occasion not being overlapped with the window and the time difference/gap condition being fulfilled, the wireless device may transmit the MsgA corresponding to the first radio resource 2740. The MsgA may comprise a preamble with the preamble index and a MsgA payload corresponding to the at least one symbol of the MsgA PUSCH occasion. In an example, for (partially) transmitting the MsgA payload the wireless device may transmit the at least one symbol of the MsgA PUSCH occasion not overlapping with the window. Based on or in response to (partially) transmitting the MsgA, the wireless device may start a RAR window for monitoring PDCCH with the offset after the last symbol of the second MsgA PUSCH occasion.

Partially transmitting the MsgA payload may increase the processing complexity of the base station, e.g., when one or more preambles (including the preamble of the MsgA) are mapped to the MsgA PUSCH occasion. In another example, when one or more DM-RS symbols assigned to the MsgA PUSCH occasion are within the window, it may become more complex for the base station to resolve the mapping between the preamble and the MsgA payload. To reduce the complexity of the base station for decoding the MsgA payload and improve the detection probability of the partially transmitted MsgA, the wireless device may transmit the MsgA payload based on at most one preamble (that is the preamble of the first MsgA) being mapped to the MsgA PUSCH occasion.

In another example, the wireless device may determine that at least two symbols of the MsgA PUSCH occasion are not overlapped with the window. The wireless device may determine that from the at least two symbols of the MsgA PUSCH occasion, at least one symbol is not assigned to a DM-RS and at least one symbol is assigned to the DM-RS. The wireless device may partially transmit the MsgA payload (if the time gap/difference condition is fulfilled) based on at least one preamble (including the preamble of the first MsgA) being mapped to the MsgA PUSCH occasion.

By partially transmitting the MsgA payload when the time gap/difference condition is fulfilled, the wireless device may improve the data transmission latency of the 2-step RA procedure compared to a case that the preamble of the MsgA is transmitted and the MsgA payload is dropped (due to being invalidated).

In an example, the base station may require decoding the partially transmitted MsgA payload, based on determining that the preamble being detected and not being mapped to the valid MsgA PUSCH occasion. In an example, the base station may decode one or more symbols of the MsgA payload that are transmitted by the wireless device. In another example, the base station based on determining that the preamble (or the PRACH occasion) is mapped to at most one DM-RS resources, may improve the decoding of the MsgA PUSCH. In another example, the base station may use at least one DM-RS symbol of the partially transmitted MsgA payload to improve the decoding of the MsgA PUSCH.

FIG. 28 shows an example embodiment of a 2-step RA procedure performed between a wireless device and an NTN base station. The wireless device may receive one or more downlink signals indicating one or more RRC configuration parameters. The one or more RRC configuration parameters may indicate one or more RACH configuration parameters 2800. In an example, the one or more RACH configuration parameters may indicate frequency hopping configuration for a MsgA PUSCH transmission in a slot (e.g., msgA-intraSlotFrequencyHopping) comprising a first hop of the MsgA PUSCH and a second hop of the MsgA PUSCH. In an example, the second hop and the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH may be TDMed where the first symbol of the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH being after the last symbol of the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH. For example, the one or more RACH configuration parameters may indicate the frequency offset (e.g., msgA-HoppingBits) for the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH relative to the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH. In an example, if guardPeriodMsgA-PUSCH is provided, a first symbol of the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH may be separated by guardPeriodMsgA-PUSCH symbols from the end of a last symbol of the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH. In an example, if guardPeriodMsgA-PUSCH is not provided, there is no time separation of the PUSCH transmission before and after frequency hopping. In an example, the first hop and the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH may occur in different symbols of the same slot. In another example, the first hop and the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH may occur in different slot. According to an example, the first hop and the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH may occur in the same transmission time interval (TTI).

The wireless device may trigger an RA procedure. In an example, the wireless device may initiate a 2-step RA procedure 2601. In an example, the one or more parameters/variables may comprise a preamble counter value (PREAMBLE_TRANSMISSION_COUNTER) and/or a power ramping counter value (PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_COUNTER).

As shown in FIG. 28 , based on and/or in response to initiating the 2-step RA procedure, the wireless device, following the RA resource selection procedure 2010, may select a radio resource for transmitting a MsgA comprising the first hop and the second hop 2810. The radio resource may comprise one or more resources for performing the 2-step RA procedure. According to the RA resource selection procedure (e.g., shown in FIG. 20 ) the one or more resources may indicate a SSB index, a RAPs group, a preamble index, a valid PRACH occasion, and a MsgA PUSCH occasion. In an example, the radio resource may comprise the valid PRACH occasion and the MsgA PUSCH occasion mapped to the valid PRACH occasion. In an example, the MsgA PUSCH occasion may comprise the first hop MsgA PUSCH occasion and the second hop MsgA PUSCH occasion with accordance to the hopping configuration of the one or more RACH configuration parameters.

As shown in FIG. 28 , the wireless device may determine that the radio resource is invalid in response to determining that the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion being invalidated 2820. In an example, the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion may be validated. In an example, the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion is invalidated based on the one or more invalidity rules.

As shown in FIG. 28 , based on the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion being invalidated and the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion being validated, the wireless device may determine that a time gap/difference condition of the radio resource is fulfilled 2830. In an example, the time gap/difference condition may be fulfilled based on the time difference between the last symbol of the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion to the current time (e.g., the time that the RA resource selection procedure is taking place) being smaller than the threshold. In an example, the time gap/difference condition may be fulfilled based on the time difference between the last symbol of the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion to the last symbol of the PRACH occasion being smaller than the threshold.

As FIG. 28 shows, based on determining that the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion being validated and the time gap/difference condition being fulfilled, the wireless device may transmit the MsgA corresponding to the radio resource 2840. In an example, the wireless device may use the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion for transmitting the payload of the MsgA. In an example, the wireless device may not use the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion for transmission of the payload of the MsgA. Upon or in response to transmitting the MsgA, the wireless device may start the RAR window for monitoring PDCCH by the offset from the last symbol of the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion.

In an example, the wireless device by transmitting the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion and dropping the transmission of the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion may tradeoff the MsgA payload diversity and the data transmission latency. For example, when the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion being close enough to the transmission time of the PRACH occasion (e.g., depending on the value of the threshold), the wireless device may improve the data transmission latency/access latency.

FIG. 29 shows an example embodiment of a 2-step RA procedure performed between a wireless device and an NTN base station. The wireless device may receive one or more downlink signals indicating one or more RRC configuration parameters. The one or more RRC configuration parameters may indicate one or more RACH configuration parameters 2800. In an example, the one or more RACH configuration parameters may indicate frequency hopping configuration for a MsgA PUSCH transmission in a slot (e.g., msgA-intraSlotFrequencyHopping) comprising a first hop of the MsgA PUSCH and a second hop of the MsgA PUSCH. In an example, the second hop and the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH may be TDMed where the first symbol of the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH being after the last symbol of the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH. For example, the one or more RACH configuration parameters may indicate the frequency offset (e.g., msgA-HoppingBits) for the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH relative to the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH. In an example, if guardPeriodMsgA-PUSCH is provided, a first symbol of the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH may be separated by guardPeriodMsgA-PUSCH symbols from the end of a last symbol of the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH. In an example, if guardPeriodMsgA-PUSCH is not provided, there is no time separation of the PUSCH transmission before and after frequency hopping. In an example, the first hop and the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH may occur in the same slot. In another example, the first hop and the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH may occur in different slot. According to an example, the first hop and the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH may occur in the same transmission time interval (TTI).

The wireless device may trigger an RA procedure. In an example, the wireless device may initiate a 2-step RA procedure 2601. In an example, the one or more parameters/variables may comprise a preamble counter value (PREAMBLE_TRANSMISSION_COUNTER) and/or a power ramping counter value (PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_COUNTER).

As shown in FIG. 29 , based on and/or in response to initiating the 2-step RA procedure, the wireless device, following the RA resource selection procedure 2010, may select a radio resource for transmitting a MsgA comprising the first hop and the second hop 2910. The radio resource may comprise one or more resources for performing the 2-step RA procedure. According to the RA resource selection procedure (e.g., shown in FIG. 20 ) the one or more resources may indicate a SSB index, a RAPs group, a preamble index, a valid PRACH occasion, and a MsgA PUSCH occasion. In an example, the radio resource may comprise the valid PRACH occasion and the MsgA PUSCH occasion mapped to the valid PRACH occasion. In an example, the MsgA PUSCH occasion may comprise the first hop MsgA PUSCH occasion and the second hop MsgA PUSCH occasion with accordance to the hopping configuration of the one or more RACH configuration parameters.

As shown in FIG. 29 , the wireless device may determine that the radio resource is invalid in response to determining that the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion being invalidated 2920. In an example, the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion may be validated. In an example, the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion is invalidated based on the one or more invalidity rules.

As shown in FIG. 29 , based on the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion being invalidated and the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion being validated, the wireless device may determine that a time gap/difference condition of the radio resource is fulfilled 2930. In an example, the time gap/difference condition may be fulfilled based on the time difference between the last symbol of the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion to the current time (e.g., the time that the RA resource selection procedure is taking place) being smaller than the threshold. In an example, the time gap/difference condition may be fulfilled based on the time difference between the last symbol of the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion to the last symbol of the PRACH occasion being smaller than the threshold.

As FIG. 29 shows, based on determining that the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion being validated and the time gap/difference condition being fulfilled, the wireless device may transmit the MsgA corresponding to the radio resource 2940. In an example, the wireless device may use the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion for transmitting the payload of the MsgA. In an example, the wireless device may not use the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion for transmission of the payload of the MsgA. Upon or in response to transmitting the MsgA, the wireless device may start the RAR window for monitoring PDCCH by the offset from the last symbol of the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion.

In an example, the wireless device by transmitting the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion and dropping the transmission of the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion may tradeoff the MsgA payload diversity and the data transmission latency. For example, when the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion being close enough to the transmission time of the PRACH occasion (e.g., depending on the value of the threshold), the wireless device may improve the data transmission latency/access latency.

According to an example embodiment, the base station may require decoding the first hop or the second hop of the transmitted MsgA payload, based on determining that the preamble being detected, the preamble not being mapped to the valid MsgA PUSCH occasion, and the MsgA payload transmission being configured with the first hop and the second hop. In an example embodiment, the base station may decode the first hop of the MsgA payload and ignore the decoding of the second hop of the MsgA payload, based on determining that the MsgA PUSCH occasion being invalid. In an example embodiment, the base station may not decode the first hop of the MsgA payload and attempt decoding the second hop of the MsgA payload, based on determining that the MsgA PUSCH occasion being invalid.

According to an example embodiment, the base station may detect the preamble and identify the MsgA PUSCH occasion that is mapped to the preamble (or PRACH occasion). The base station may determine that the MsgA PUSCH occasion is invalid and comprises the first hop and the second hop (e.g., based on the RACH configuration parameters). In an example, the base station may determine that the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion is invalid and the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion is valid. Based on the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion being valid and the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion being invalid, the base station may decode the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH and does not attempt decoding the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH.

According to an example embodiment, the base station may detect the preamble and identify the MsgA PUSCH occasion that is mapped to the preamble (or PRACH occasion). The base station may determine that the MsgA PUSCH occasion is invalid and comprises the first hop and the second hop (e.g., based on the RACH configuration parameters). In an example, the base station may determine that the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion is valid and the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion is invalid. Based on the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion being valid and the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH occasion being invalid, the base station may decode the first hop of the MsgA PUSCH and does not attempt decoding the second hop of the MsgA PUSCH.

According to an example embodiment, the wireless device may initiate a two-step random access (RA) procedure. The wireless device may select a first radio resource for a first message A of the two-step RA procedure. The wireless device may select a second radio resource for a second message A of the two-step RA procedure based on the first radio resource being invalided, the second radio resource being validated, and a time difference between the second radio resource and the first radio resource being smaller than a threshold. The wireless device may transmit, to a base station, the second message A corresponding to the second radio resource.

In an example, the first radio resource may comprise a first physical random access channel (PRACH) resource/occasion and a first physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resource/occasion mapped to the first PRACH resource/occasion. The first radio resource may be invalidated in response to validating the first PRACH resource/occasion and invalidating the first PUSCH resource/occasion.

In an example, the second radio resource may comprise a second physical random access channel (PRACH) resource/occasion and a second physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resource/occasion mapped to the second PRACH resource/occasion. The second radio resource may be validated in response to validating the second PRACH resource/occasion and validating the second PUSCH resource/occasion.

In an example, the first radio resource may comprise a first physical random access channel (PRACH) resource/occasion and a first physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resource/occasion mapped to the first PRACH resource/occasion. The second radio resource may comprise a second PRACH resource/occasion and a second PUSCH resource/occasion mapped to the second PRACH resource/occasion. The time difference between the second radio resource and the first radio resource may be the time difference between the last symbol of the second PUSCH resource/occasion and the last symbol of the first PRACH resource/occasion.

In an example, the first radio resource may comprise a first physical random access channel (PRACH) resource/occasion and a first physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resource/occasion mapped to the first PRACH resource/occasion. The second radio resource may comprise a second PRACH resource/occasion and a second PUSCH resource/occasion mapped to the second PRACH resource/occasion. The time difference between the second radio resource and the first radio resource may be the time difference between the last symbol of the second PUSCH resource/occasion and the last symbol of the first PUSCH resource/occasion.

In an example, the first radio resource may comprise a first physical random access channel (PRACH) resource/occasion and a first physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resource/occasion mapped to the first PRACH resource/occasion. The second radio resource comprises a second PRACH resource/occasion and a second PUSCH resource/occasion mapped to the second PRACH resource/occasion. The time difference between the second radio resource and the first radio resource may be the time difference between the last symbol of the second PRACH resource/occasion and the last symbol of the first PRACH resource/occasion.

In an example, the selecting the first radio resource may be for a preamble counter value.

In an example, the selecting the second radio resource may be for the preamble counter value.

In an example, the selecting the first radio resource may be for a power ramping counter value.

In an example, the selecting the second radio resource may be for the power ramping counter value.

In an example, the wireless device may determine the threshold based on an offset.

The wireless device may start a RAR window based on the offset in response to transmitting the second message A.

In an example, the wireless device may be preconfigured with the offset.

In an example, the wireless device may receive one or more configuration parameters indicating the offset.

In an example, the wireless device may determine the offset based on one or more measurements.

In an example, the one or more measurements may comprise the propagation delay between the wireless device and the base station.

In an example, the one or more measurements may comprise the propagation delay between the wireless device and a non-terrestrial network (NTN) node.

In an example, the one or more measurements may comprise the propagation delay between the wireless device and a reference point.

In an example, the wireless device may be configured with the reference point.

In an example, the base station is a non-terrestrial network (NTN) base station.

In an example, the selecting the second radio resource may be based on not transmitting the first message A corresponding to the first radio resource.

In an example, the selecting of the second radio resource may occur prior to transmitting a preamble for the RA procedure.

In an example, wireless device may be preconfigured with the threshold.

In an example, the wireless device may determine the threshold based on the propagation delay between the wireless device and the base station.

In an example, the wireless device may determine the threshold based on a portion of the propagation delay between the wireless device and the base station.

According to an example embodiment, the wireless device may initiate a two-step random access (RA) procedure. The wireless device may select a first radio resource for a message A of the two-step RA procedure. The wireless device may determine that the first radio resource overlaps with a window started from a last symbol of a second radio resource. The wireless device may transmit, to a base station, the message A corresponding to the first radio resource based on at least one symbol of the first radio resource being outside the window and a time period until the first radio resource being smaller than a threshold.

In an example, the first radio resource may comprise a physical random access channel (PRACH) resource/occasion and a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resource/occasion mapped to the PRACH resource/occasion.

In an example, the wireless device may determine the first radio resource overlaps with the window based on the PUSCH resource/occasion being overlapped with the window.

In an example, the wireless device may determine the time period until the first radio resource as the time difference between a last symbol of the PUSCH resource/occasion and the initiating time of the two-step RA procedure.

In an example, the wireless device may determine the time period until the first radio resource as the time difference between a last symbol of the PUSCH resource/occasion and the selecting time of the first radio resource for the message A.

In an example, the wireless device may determine the time period until the first radio resource as the time difference between a last symbol of the PUSCH resource/occasion and the last symbol of the PRACH occasion/resource.

In an example, the wireless device may determine the time period until the first radio resource as the time difference between a last symbol of the PRACH resource/occasion and the selecting time of the first radio resource for the message A.

In an example, the transmitting the message A corresponding to the first radio resource may comprise transmitting a preamble and the at least one symbol of the PUSCH resource/occasion.

In an example, the preamble may correspond to the PRACH resource/occasion.

In an example, the second radio resource may be a synchronization signal block (SSB).

In an example, the second radio resource may be the PRACH resource/occasion.

In an example, the second radio resource may be a last downlink radio resource.

In an example, the window may have a pre-configured length.

In an example, the wireless device may determine the threshold based on an offset. The wireless device may start a RAR window based on the offset in response to transmitting the message A.

In an example, the wireless device may be preconfigured with the offset.

In an example, the wireless device may receive one or more configuration parameters indicating the offset.

In an example, the wireless device may determine the offset based on one or more measurements.

In an example, the one or more measurements may comprise the propagation delay between the wireless device and the base station.

In an example, the one or more measurements may comprise the propagation delay between the wireless device and a non-terrestrial network (NTN) node.

In an example, the one or more measurements may comprise the propagation delay between the wireless device and a reference point.

In an example, the wireless device may be configured with the reference point.

In an example, the base station may be a non-terrestrial network (NTN) base station.

In an example, the wireless device may be preconfigured with the threshold.

In an example, the wireless device may determine the threshold based on the propagation delay between the wireless device and the base station.

In an example, the wireless device may determine the threshold based on a portion of the propagation delay between the wireless device and the base station.

In an example, the wireless device may determine that at most one preamble is mapped to the PUSCH occasion/resource.

In an example, the wireless device may determine that the number of symbols of the PUSCH resource/occasion assigned to a demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) not overlapping with the window is greater than zero and the at least one symbol of the PUSCH resource/occasion that is outside the window is not assigned to the DM-RS.

According to an example embodiment, the wireless device may receive one or more configuration parameters of a two-step random access (RA) procedure indicating a first hop of the RA procedure and a second hop of the RA procedure that occurs after the first hop in the time domain. The wireless device may select a radio resource for a message A of the two-step RA procedure. The wireless device may transmit to a base station the message A corresponding to the radio resource based on the radio resource being validated and a time gap to the radio resource being smaller than a threshold.

In an example, the radio resource may comprise a physical random access channel (PRACH) resource/occasion, a first physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resource/occasion, mapped to the PRACH resource/occasion, corresponding to the first hop of the RA procedure, and a second PUSCH resource/occasion, mapped to the PRACH resource/occasion, corresponding to the second hop of the RA procedure.

In an example, the radio resource being validated may comprise validating a physical random access channel (PRACH) resource/occasion corresponding to the radio resource, validating a first physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resource/occasion, mapped to the PRACH resource/occasion, corresponding to the first hop of the RA procedure, and invalidating a second PUSCH resource/occasion, mapped to the PRACH resource/occasion, corresponding to the second hop of the RA procedure.

In an example, the radio resource being validated may comprise validating a physical random access channel (PRACH) resource/occasion corresponding to the radio resource, invalidating a first physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resource/occasion, mapped to the PRACH resource/occasion, corresponding to the first hop of the RA procedure, and validating a second PUSCH resource/occasion, mapped to the PRACH resource/occasion, corresponding to the second hop of the RA procedure.

In an example, the radio resource may comprise a physical random access channel (PRACH) resource/occasion, a first physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resource/occasion, mapped to the PRACH resource/occasion corresponding to the first hop of the RA procedure, and a second physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resource/occasion, mapped to the PRACH resource/occasion corresponding to the second hop of the RA procedure. The time gap to the radio resource may be the time difference between a last symbol of the first PUSCH resource/occasion and a last symbol of the PRACH resource/occasion based on the first PUSCH resource/occasion being validated and the second PUSCH resource/occasion being invalidated.

In an example, the radio resource may comprise a physical random access channel (PRACH) resource/occasion, a first physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resource/occasion, mapped to the PRACH resource/occasion corresponding to the first hop of the RA procedure, and a second physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resource/occasion, mapped to the PRACH resource/occasion corresponding to the second hop of the RA procedure. The time gap to the radio resource may be the time difference between a last symbol of the second PUSCH resource/occasion and a last symbol of the PRACH resource/occasion based on the first PUSCH resource/occasion being invalidated and the second PUSCH resource/occasion being validated.

In an example, the radio resource may comprise a physical random access channel (PRACH) resource/occasion, a first physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resource/occasion, mapped to the PRACH resource/occasion corresponding to the first hop of the RA procedure, and a second physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resource/occasion, mapped to the PRACH resource/occasion corresponding to the second hop of the RA procedure. The time gap to the radio resource may be the time difference between a last symbol of the first PUSCH resource/occasion and the selecting time of the radio resource based on the first PUSCH resource/occasion being validated and the second PUSCH resource/occasion being invalidated.

In an example, the radio resource may comprise a physical random access channel (PRACH) resource/occasion, a first physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resource/occasion, mapped to the PRACH resource/occasion corresponding to the first hop of the RA procedure, and a second physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resource/occasion, mapped to the PRACH resource/occasion corresponding to the second hop of the RA procedure. The time gap to the radio resource may be the time difference between a last symbol of the second PUSCH resource/occasion and the selecting time of the radio resource based on the first PUSCH resource/occasion being invalidated and the second PUSCH resource/occasion being validated.

In an example, the wireless device may initiate a two-step random access (RA) procedure.

In an example, the first hop of the RA procedure and the second hop of the RA procedure may occur in different symbols of the same slot.

In an example, the first hop of the RA procedure and the second hop of the RA procedure may occur in different transmission time intervals (TTI).

In an example, the first hop of the RA procedure and the second hop of the RA procedure may occur in different slots.

In an example, the wireless device may determine the threshold based on an offset. The wireless device may start a RAR window based on the offset in response to transmitting the message A.

In an example, the wireless device may be preconfigured with the offset.

In an example, the wireless device may receive one or more configuration parameters indicating the offset.

In an example, the wireless device may determine the offset based on one or more measurements.

In an example, the one or more measurements may comprise the propagation delay between the wireless device and the base station.

In an example, the one or more measurements may comprise the propagation delay between the wireless device and a non-terrestrial network (NTN) node.

In an example, the one or more measurements may comprise the propagation delay between the wireless device and a reference point.

In an example, the wireless device may be configured with the reference point.

In an example, the base station may be a non-terrestrial network (NTN) base.

In an example, the wireless device may be preconfigured with the threshold.

In an example, the wireless device may determine the threshold based on the propagation delay between the wireless device and the base station.

In an example, the wireless device may determine the threshold based on a portion of the propagation delay between the wireless device and the base station. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: selecting, by a wireless device and in response to initiating a random access procedure, a first radio resource for transmitting a message; and in response to the first radio resource being invalid for transmission of the message, transmitting, via a second radio resource, the message based on: the second radio resource being valid for the transmission of the message; and a time difference between the second radio resource and the first radio resource being less than a threshold.
 2. The method of claim 1, in response to the first radio resource being invalid for transmission of the message, further comprising: refraining transmitting the message via the first radio resource; and selecting the second radio resource for transmitting the message.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein: the first radio resource comprises a first physical random access channel (PRACH) occasion and a first physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) occasion mapped to the first PRACH occasion; and the second radio resource comprises a second PRACH occasion and a second PUSCH occasion mapped to the second PRACH occasion.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first radio resource is invalid based on: the first PRACH occasion being valid; and the first PUSCH occasion being invalid.
 5. The method of claim 3, the second radio resource is valid based on: the second PRACH occasion being valid; and the second PUSCH occasion being valid.
 6. The method of claim 3, wherein the time difference between the second radio resource and the first radio resource is at least one of: a time difference between a last symbol of the second PUSCH occasion and a last symbol of the first PRACH occasion; a time difference between the last symbol of the second PUSCH occasion and a last symbol of the first PUSCH occasion; or a time difference between a last symbol of the second PRACH occasion and a last symbol of the first PRACH occasion.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting the first radio resource and the selecting the second radio resource is for at least one of a preamble counter value or a power ramping counter value.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising starting a random access response (RAR) window after an offset from the transmitting the message, wherein: the offset is a round trip transmission delay between the wireless device and a base station; and the threshold is based on the offset.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the threshold based on: a propagation delay between the wireless device and a base station; or a portion of the propagation delay between the wireless device and the base station.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein: the base station is a non-terrestrial network (NTN) base station; and the random access procedure comprises a two-step random access procedure.
 11. A wireless device comprising: one or more processors; and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the wireless device to: select, in response to initiating a random access procedure, a first radio resource for transmitting a message; and in response to the first radio resource being invalid for transmission of the message, transmit, via a second radio resource, the message based on: the second radio resource being valid for the transmission of the message; and a time difference between the second radio resource and the first radio resource being less than a threshold.
 12. The wireless device of claim 11, wherein, in response to the first radio resource being invalid for transmission of the message, the instructions further cause the wireless device to: refrain transmitting the message via the first radio resource; and select the second radio resource for transmitting the message.
 13. The wireless device of claim 11, wherein: the first radio resource comprises a first physical random access channel (PRACH) occasion and a first physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) occasion mapped to the first PRACH occasion; and the second radio resource comprises a second PRACH occasion and a second PUSCH occasion mapped to the second PRACH occasion.
 14. The wireless device of claim 13, wherein the first radio resource is invalid based on: the first PRACH occasion being valid; and the first PUSCH occasion being invalid.
 15. The wireless device of claim 13, the second radio resource is valid based on: the second PRACH occasion being valid; and the second PUSCH occasion being valid.
 16. The wireless device of claim 13, wherein the time difference between the second radio resource and the first radio resource is at least one of: a time difference between a last symbol of the second PUSCH occasion and a last symbol of the first PRACH occasion; a time difference between the last symbol of the second PUSCH occasion and a last symbol of the first PUSCH occasion; or a time difference between a last symbol of the second PRACH occasion and a last symbol of the first PRACH occasion.
 17. The wireless device of claim 11, wherein the selecting the first radio resource and the selecting the second radio resource is for at least one of a preamble counter value or a power ramping counter value.
 18. The wireless device of claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the wireless device to start a random access response (RAR) window after an offset from the transmitting the message, wherein: the offset is a round trip transmission delay between the wireless device and a base station; and the threshold is based on the offset.
 19. The wireless device of claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the wireless device to determine the threshold based on: a propagation delay between the wireless device and a base station; or a portion of the propagation delay between the wireless device and the base station.
 20. A system comprising: a wireless device comprising one or more first processors and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more first processors, cause the wireless device to: select, in response to initiating a random access procedure, a first radio resource for transmitting a message; and in response to the first radio resource being invalid for transmission of the message, transmit, via a second radio resource, the message based on: the second radio resource being valid for the transmission of the message; and a time difference between the second radio resource and the first radio resource being less than a threshold; and a base station comprising one or more second processors and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more second processors, cause the base station to: receive the message. 